IAM638- Portrait Artist Documents Children-Parents’ Connections

Angela Singleton is a portrait artist in the Baltimore metropolitan area with a specialty to newborn photography. Angela's artist goal is to honor the compelling bond between a parent and child by documenting the connection that children bring to the lives of parents. Angela is a proud member of Professional Photographers of America and volunteers her service with Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep for bereavement photography.

• CEO Hack: Brain dump – taking the time to write everything down and getting rid of the negative aspects of my life
• CEO Nugget: Be yourself
• CEO Defined: Empowerment

Website: http://www.angelasingleton.com/

Instagram: instagram.com/asinglephoto
Facebook: facebook.com/asinglephoto
Twitter: twitter.com/asinglephoto
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/asinglephoto

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Transcript

Intro 0:02
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29
Hello, hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. Angela Singleton of AngelaSingleton.com. Angela. It's awesome to have you on the show.

Unknown Speaker 0:40
Hey, how are you?

Gresham Harkless 0:42
I'm doing phenomenal and I appreciate you taking some time out and before we we started to jump in. I want to read a little bit more about Angela so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's been doing. Angela is a portrait artist in the Baltimore metropolitan area with a specialty in newborn photography. Angela's artistic goal is to honor the compelling bond between a parent and child by documenting the connection that children bring to the lives of parents. Angela is a proud member of the Professional Photographers of America. And volunteers her service with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep for bereavement photography. Angela, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Unknown Speaker 1:17
Yes, I am.

Gresham Harkless 1:18
Awesome. Let's do it. So I wanted to kick everything off with I guess how things began. So I wanted to hear about your SEO story. And when did you start your business?

Angela Singleton 1:26
Okay. Yeah, I'm very, I'm very excited of doing this. So I appreciate you, you also reaching out to me for the opportunity. As far as for me for photography, I've always had the love of photography and growing up in life. So I started as a young person in in school of doing photography of itself. And once I had my daughter, I knew how important it was to make sure that I documented her life. And as time goes on, I realized that with our generation of how it is right Now in this digital age, there are more and more families that are going to have a lost generation because we're locked into, you know, taking pictures on our phones. So my whole goal is is to make sure with my business is that I have a tangible product, an item for their family to be able to continue they're late legacy and be able to show their family of what they were when they were growing up for the generations to come. So that is pretty much the reason why I started my business.

Gresham Harkless 2:30
Awesome, I aboslutely love that. And I love you know, obviously how you know, you started, you know, doing photography when you were younger, and how it has manifested itself into this business. But I love kind of like the deeper meaning by what it is that you do, because it's not just sometimes a photo as some people might look at it. I mean, it's that bond that I talked about when I read your bio, but it's also you know, that legacy as you kind of spoke to of what you're providing for these families and to be able to continue to pass on those stories and those memories and all those phenomenal moments.

Angela Singleton 3:00
Yes, definitely. Yeah. Because unfortunately, you know, everyone say that they will print stuff, you know, but I've had it happen to me where I'm, I would say, I will print the item. And, you know, my computer crashed and I lost all the images. So, you know, that's like my main focus to make sure.

Gresham Harkless 3:18
Yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right, especially as you said in this day and age, to be able to have that kind of tangible asset as well to say something that's huge. So, I know I touched on it a little bit when I read your bio, but can you take us through how you work with clients and exactly what that process looks like?

Angela Singleton 3:34
Oh, definitely. So a lot of times, you know, the best way that I try to explain my business, I consider myself more like an high touch concierge kind of service. You know how you used to have the doctors that will show up at your house? Well, I'm pretty much that I'm your photographer that shows up at your house, and I take care of everything. I'm a start to finish photographer, which means that I take care of all the custom planning from what you will wear to what prompts or backdrops that we will use for your baby session to even help you pick out your images that you would either have for your wall decor, or design the album itself for for my clients. So I want to make sure that my clients don't have to worry about anything. And I noticed as time went on, I ended up offering another service, which is installation of their actual wall portraits because what I was finding was, is that a lot of my clients will get their delivery of their wall portraits, and I'll be like, hey, send me a picture. Let me see where you put your images up, you know, cuz that's what I would like to be able to see and be able to praise them on. And they were like, Oh, um, it's still sitting on the floor. Okay, that's something I need to fix. So I started offering installation so that I'll hang the artwork for them to make sure that they don't have to worry about that either.

Gresham Harkless 5:00
Yeah, no, I absolutely love that. Because so many times, there's so many little nuances, we don't realize when like, when we're doing a business, we're going to do you know, this service or that service. But when you start to, you know, have conversations start to connect with clients, or to reach out to them, and check in, you start to uncover other needs, where, you know, sometimes the mom or the parents were so busy, to be able to kind of plan and do those high touch concierge service things that you've done, but then they're also still busy after it's done. And they want to be able to have a place where it's gonna go or, not worry about a lot of those things. So I love that.

Angela Singleton 5:34
Yes, definitely. And especially with moms, you know, new moms, whether it's your first baby or your fifth Baby, I mean, you you don't have time to worry about those things. So I love the fact that I'm able to walk them through the whole process and take care of it for them.

Gresham Harkless 5:50
Yeah, absolutely. And I can definitely see that value because I think you don't want that moment to pass which is what you kind of speak into in the beginning. So you have that ability to have it taken care of but then you can look back and really, you know, cherish those moments that you always want to remember.

Angela Singleton 6:06
Yes, definitely.

Gresham Harkless 6:07
And I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and it can be for you personally or your business, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Angela Singleton 6:16
You know, it's funny because it took me a while to think about it, because, you know, you're like, oh, what would what would my secret sauce be? And then I have to go back to you know, I feel like I have this natural ability to be able to connect with with my clients and also my babies. And a lot of times as mothers, you know, we're able to sneakily be able to trust into gravitate towards people who makes us feel more comfortable. And a lot of the times, I often find out that a lot of my parents end up calling me the baby whisperer, you know, because I have this natural ability to be able to make babies feel comfortable, and for some reason they are I mean, I haven't found a baby yet that doesn't love them. So, knock on wood that it doesn't happen anytime soon being able to see parents watch me interact and be able to soothe their babies. A lot of times they asked me like, how do you do that? Like, what was this? or What did you do do with that to get my baby to calm down so quickly. So I feel like everybody is given a natural gift, you know, as far as what they're supposed to do in life, and I believe that this is my gift. You know, my gift is capturing those unforgettable moments for my clients through the having that patience and the comfortability of families being comfortable with me handling their babies.

Gresham Harkless 7:42
I love that and I appreciate you for breaking that down so much because I think so many times, first of all, you know, thank you for doing that. Secondly, I appreciate you for walking into that gap because I think so many times sometimes we identify our gifts and know what they are but we're not actually walking into them. I think it definitely takes somebody who's able to, for one, notice their gifts, see that gift, but also to walk in and be comfortable with that. Because I think so many times, we don't do that. And that's what we were given, as you said, from kind of birth to kind of show and share with the world.

Angela Singleton 8:17
I definitely believe that. And it took me a while to finally you know, because in life, you're like, Oh, you don't want to be, an entrepreneur, you know, or you definitely don't want to be a photographer, you know, they're like, Oh, that's, that's a job that it's not going to take care of your family. So, but when you're when it is a gift of yours, you have to pursue what your gift is.

Gresham Harkless 8:39
Yeah, absolutely. And those doors and opportunities start to open up and I think sometimes, those people that give advice, which I have definitely heard it's up to you. Sometimes it's because they're not in their gifts and they don't necessarily see the joy or have the passion for it as much. And we can sometimes be clouded by those external influences, when really we should be kind of walking in that.

Angela Singleton 9:00
Exactly, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 9:02
Awesome. So I love that. And I truly appreciate that. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wantedto ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So that could be like an apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Angela Singleton 9:15
You know, for me, what I've been doing recently is that I've been taking the time to do like a brain dump, which means like, every morning, instead of worrying about things that come to my mind, I take the time to write everything down and get it off of my mind. That way, you know, I don't have to worry about the negative things that normally comes to, you know, entrepreneurs to be able to, or the CEO is in period that comes to your mind because you do go through a phase of self doubt, and wondering whether or not you did something right or not. So by writing those things down every day, it comes to the forefront and allows me to opportunity to come up with a new positive mantra to be able to get rid of those negative aspects of my life.

Gresham Harkless 10:04
Yeah, and that's, that's definitely something that's huge. I think so many times in, I've been guilty of this myself to where you kind of hold on to it or you push it in the back of your brain, you think that's gone, but it's never really gone, you're always thinking about it. So to be able to kind of have that regular practice of writing it out and kind of releasing it. Not only does it you know, help from that standpoint, but it also gets it out of your brain so you can focus on those more, you know, important, sometimes important, about higher arching things that move the needle forward.

Angela Singleton 10:34
Yes.

Gresham Harkless 10:36
I love that. So, I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget, so that could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice or if you can hop to a time machine, what might you tell your younger business self?

Angela Singleton 10:46
What I would definitely tell my younger self if I was in a time machine and go back in time, it's that I would tell myself to be yourself, you know, it's about your personality. Be who you are as an individual. And that goes back to the gift that I feel that everybody is given in life. And a lot of times, you know, we try to be somebody else or try to imitate someone else thinking that that's what the world wants, or that's what the world needs. So I wish that when I first started that I pushed more forward of who I am as an individual, because it took a little while for me to be able to finally get those clients who clicked with me and love me for me, and they are looking for people that are exactly like you. So don't try to be somebody else. Be the best person that you could possibly be.

Gresham Harkless 11:43
Absolutely be your best self. And I think you're so right, where I think sometimes we forget that we you know, we might see somebody that's successful or we try to adopt and imitate, as you said exactly what they're doing but not realizing that there's potential clients out there that are looking for you and who you are, but it If you're not being yourself, and they're not going to be able to find you, so we have to kind of not only do that, but also step into that in many of the ways that we're doing in our lives. And then I think that's when those opportunities and those people in those clients start to come about and start to enter our lives.

Angela Singleton 12:16
Yes, I agree.

Gresham Harkless 12:19
Awesome. And, and so now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different “CEOs” on the show. So Angela, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Angela Singleton 12:30
Okay, so, being a CEO to me, is I think very empowering. You know, being one of the first college bound family members in my family, and being able to now own a business has shown leaps and bounds of things of life for me and having a younger daughter and being able to show her not only you know you're raised up, oh, you could do whatever you want to do, you could do, if you put your heart into it, you could do it. But to be able to show my daughter that running a business and making it profitable. It's also something that has helped me through this whole process.

Gresham Harkless 13:17
I love that and that perspective, and it's definitely I love you know, the word empowering, but you're so right where I think many times we forget that what we're doing on a regular basis is seen by so many people, we're making so much of an impact not just in our lives, but in the lives of people that are looking up to us, whether it be you know, children or family members and I think to be able to continue to kind of , “Blaze that trail” and to be the first to this and the first to implement that and, and really make that true impact is really kind of inspiring is definitely a blessing and definitely a gift that we have as well to

Angela Singleton 13:52
Definitely because I mean even I mean within my generation, you know, we're we're taught to work for somebody else and you know, you don't really realize how much hard work is put into it. But it's also, you know, very encouraging. And you know, you get a lot of good vibes from it not just the hard work, but being able to do this job too.

Gresham Harkless 14:13
Yeah, absolutely. And not even knowing sometimes you don't know that… the sometimes your reality is what you see and what you've experienced. If you don't know anything different than that, then it's not really reality. But I think as you you know, have spoken to being able to do that and to build your business, not just for your daughter, but also reminding us as well, too, is that we get to paint our own picture, we get to, you know, create our own portrait, so to speak, so that we can be and see the vision that we want to have in our lives.

Angela Singleton 14:39
Yes, you said it perfectly.

Gresham Harkless 14:43
Awesome. Awesome. Well, Angela, truly appreciate that. And I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

Angela Singleton 15:01
For me, I don't think I have anything additional to add other than, you know, I just love what I do. And I think it is important that you know, when you get into a business, you have to love what you do, because there will be hard days that, you know, if you don't love what you do, it makes it harder for you to continue on doing what you do.

Gresham Harkless 15:24
Absolutely. And for people that want to get a hold of you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Angela Singleton 15:29
You could definitely go to my website as mentioned in the beginning, it's AngelaSingleton.com You can fill out either the contact form and get in touch me that way or you can email me directly at Hello@AngelaSingleton.com.

Gresham Harkless 15:44
Awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Angela. We will have the link and information in the show notes and I think you're absolutely right and you hit the nail on the head when you said that. You know if you have a choice to love what you do or not do what you love. You should definitely you know do what you love just because it is especially when you starting to run in business, a lot of things you have to manage a lot of work that you have to put in. So why not love what you do while you're doing that? So I appreciate you for reinding us of that.

Angela Singleton 16:07
Yes.

Gresham Harkless 16:09
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.Well, thank you again, Angela. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest the day.

Outro 16:14
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at IAMCEO.CO. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five star ratin. Grab CEO gear a www.CEOgear.co This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening