Trading Places
OMGosh, I’m in front of the camera! Entrepreneurs, creatives and “side-hustlers” need branded image content for their advertising, websites, social media, blog posts, so forth and so on. And I am no different. I am a photographer and a real estate agent. But for the longest time I resisted booking my own Personal Branding Session. LOL – crazy right! Well, I did it and it was quite a ride.
I booked with 2 colleagues and went through the client experience, twice. It started with an initial consult and a chat about who I am and my business identity. Then it moved on to location planning, hair, make-up and styling options, creating an idea board of images, colors and styles. Then, I attacked my closet with glee and not a little trepidation.
Did I have anything to wear? Did I have enough items in my brand colors? How casual or professional did I want to look? How many outfits did I think I’d be up to changing into during the 90 minute sessions? Do I buy new clothes? Do I buy clothes that look like the photos I like? What if those clothes don’t make me look like me? Can I suck it up to be stylish? – Ahhh! I went down a rabbit hole for about a month before hand. I truly had no idea the feelings that this prep phase would bring up. The experience on the other side of the camera, so far, was kinda stressful.
I bought jeans. And I am not a jeans kinda woman – ha! Then I returned the jeans – ha ha! I found beautiful blouses with my brand colors that swallowed me up. I always tell my clients, “Stay away from prints.” You’d think I could’ve listened to myself. Then I found a lovely professional dress and things started to come together.
I planned the props I wanted to use at home and offsite – cell phone, lap top, agenda book, signs, flowers, fun coffee mug, biz cards and paperwork and photographer’s equipment. I planned locations in and around my home – patio, kitchen, living room and my home office. And then I prepped by cleaning and decluttering.
The 90 minute sessions, each time, flew by! While we didn’t catch everything on my lists, we did accomplish quite a lot. It was fun. I relaxed into being me. We laughed a lot. We got creative together and came up with new ideas. It was a blast!
This experience taught me more about who I am as a business person. It taught me more about how I want to show up for my businesses. And it’s given me a greater understanding of what each of my clients goes through. I’m thrilled I finally committed to my business representation in this very tangible way. I highly recommend the experience to every entrepreneur out there!
Thank you Portia of Portia Wiggins Photography for all the great images you took (above) and for making my home such a fun place for a branding shoot. Thank you Paige Fremder of HeyNextPaige for these beautiful "sneak peaks" from our fun afternoon at the Lightbox Studio in Annapolis, MD. I can't wait to see the full gallery!
