IAM1031- Entrepreneur Runs a Headshots’ Photography Studio

Jared Wolfe runs Portraits by Jared Wolfe a photography studio in Alexandria VA. He shoots headshots for professionals, actors, and models and portraits for families, babies, and maternity. He has been in business for five years.

• CEO Hack: Automation and having templates or CRM
• CEO Nugget: You are not your customer, know and understand what adds value to your customers
• CEO Defined: The buck stops here

Website: https://byjaredwolfe.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/byjaredwolfe

Full Interview:

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Transcription

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00:25 – Intro
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. GRESTS values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:52 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jared Wolf of Portraits by Jared Wolf. Jared, it's awesome to have you on the show.

01:01- Jared Wolfe

Thank you. It's good to be here.

01:04 – Gresham Harkless

Definitely super excited to have you on. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Jared so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Jared runs Portraits by Jared Wolf, a photography studio in Alexandria, Virginia. He shoots headshots for professionals, actors, models, and portraits for families, babies, and maternity. He's been in business for five years. Jared, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:27 – Jared Wolfe

Sure am.

01:28- Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's do it then. So to kinda kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit and hear a little bit more about how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

01:35- Jared Wolfe

So, I mean, I think I really kinda jump-started things five years ago by just kind of taking the plunge into the water of just kinda opening a studio space. And I did that somewhat foolishly just kind of thinking that, oh, if I magically have a studio, I'll magically start having customers. And then quickly realized that was not quite the case and quickly had to actually start learning the business side of, you know, photography and how do you actually get customers.

And, you know, what do people actually want and, like, what actually sells and how to actually have business processes and marketing and all these little things that are part of a business. And, yeah, that's really kinda how I started. It was just struggling that first year just to kinda keep the lights running and how do I do this. And, you know, eventually getting it to the point where it was consistent, you know, revenue moneymaker, kind of thing by sort of offering those right products and services and sort of knowing where to focus my time and energy on which services and things.

02:49 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I appreciate you sharing that, and I love that metaphor of jumping in the deep end. Because I think a lot of times when you're first, getting started with a business and have that startup period, you feel like you're in the deep end trying to, you know, tread water. But I think so many times, you know, we fall in love with our products and services and the things that we're doing. We think automatically once we put out that open sign or get our studio or build it, that the people will come in, but there's definitely a lot more, you know, that goes in, that goes into business. So I appreciate you for highlighting that and love that you've been able to kind of understand that and then, of course, been able to kind of zero in on how to make that happen in your business and to have that success that you've been able to have.

03:26- Jared Wolfe

Yeah, absolutely.

03:28- Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I know I read a little bit about what you do, and I wanted to drill down a little bit more here about, you know, how you serve your clients, but also, like, the process and what that looks like. Sure.

03:40 – Jared Wolfe

So I'll probably focus a little bit more on the headshots head headshot side of things just because that's, an area that is probably my biggest sort of moneymaker. It's where I get most of my inquiries. It's a big part of my business and I think it's also one of those things that right now is particularly hot and important in part just because of the whole pandemic situation. You know, more people than ever are now working, online, and no longer have quite that same physical presence. And, you know, as a result, are discovering that, oh, they really need to clean up and refine their sort of online presence and a headshot is sort of a big part of that, you know, sort of creating that online presence and visibility.

So that you're no longer just sort of a name or a logo or some initials on a meeting software screen. You have a bit more of that human impact and and, human touch with people, even when you can't be there in person. And so, you know, with my headshots, I almost always like to talk to people in person first just to get an idea of sort of what it is they need the headshot for. What's their current headshot situation look like, do they have no headshot, do they have a current headshot but it's just like a crappy iPhone shot or whatever it is? Just so I kind of know what people's current situation is. And so I can kind of, you know, get a better understanding of where they are and where we want to go with their headshot.

And as well as just kind of evaluate where and what all their needs are for their headshots, where their headshots are going to live, you know, for people who just have a nine to five job, that's probably just LinkedIn and maybe whatever else the company needs. But if you're someone who's kind of in business for yourself, or like a, you know, a realtor or a doctor or someone who does their own business and kinda has to market themselves and be their own brand, a headshot can typically be a lot more involved, where they're going to need more images, more poses and it's really good to kind of think a bit about you know where those headshots are going to be living.

What are your marketing places and things like that so that you can have headshots that sort of fit all those different needs? So that's one of the reasons why I like to have at least kind of some touch base with people, prior. But, you know, even people who just kind of book me on my online booker and just come straight in, you know some of that stuff I can kind of do on the fly and right there in the session and we can kind of discuss some of those things during the session. And that's you know typically not a problem. You know I do have a real studio with a lot of equipment and things like that so I can typically handle pretty much any situation on the fly. And, you know, during the session, we'll just, you know, shoot a bunch of different poses.

You know, I'll give you a live instruction because most people don't really know how to magically look good in front of a camera, you know. You know, looking good in front of the camera is a little different than just looking good in front of the mirror, you know. And so I do a lot of just kind of coaching and just, you know, giving you ideas of what things you should be doing. And another important thing that I do is I show you immediately on the laptop, what the results are so that you can kinda see what the results are. Like, oh, naturally, you go back and you look a little weird and you look like you're scared of your potential customer client. But if you lean forward a little bit and push your head out, you're gonna look a little better.

And just little tricks like that, shifting your shoulders, all those things all kind of show on the screen to kind of see what's working, whether we like smiles, no smiles, all that kind of stuff, and get to see it on that laptop screen so that you can really kind of evaluate. Okay. Is this working? Is this not working? A lot of this stuff is gonna be kind of just personal to how you wanna present yourself, what line of business you're in. I have a lot of people who are from, the Department of Defense, who come over and they want a real, like, serious military guy kind of headshot. And you know if you're a realtor that's like the exact opposite of what you want. A realtor wants this super happy welcome to the neighborhood, a friendly headshot.

My DOD guys don't want that, you know. And so everybody's business needs is gonna be a little different. What you wear, how you present yourself, you know, a serious smile. And so, like, all of that's kind of discussed and kind of brought out during the headshot session. We see it on the screen. In addition, depending on where your customer is in sort of your customer journey or funnel or whatever it is, you might wanna present a different side of yourself. So it's good just to have some options, to sort of choose from. And then, you know, basically, throughout the session, we'll kind of mark some images people like along the way.

And at the end of the session, it's just okay which of these images do you actually wanna purchase and keep, you know, which ones do you really want? And the other ones kinda get deleted. The ones that they want and they purchase, you know, I work my Photoshop magic on and deliver those in a pretty quick, and timely fashion. And really that's kind of the kind of it. Sometimes there'll be some feedback in terms of retouching. They'll want some additional this or that. But in general, that's about it. Some other things that might come in sort of the post-session aspect are that I do digital backgrounds, which not a lot of other headshot photographers do.

But that's something that I do and I highlight it because I think it's very valuable and important in particular from a marketing standpoint. And so sometimes you know I'll send customers or clients you know a couple different background potentials for them to kind of choose from and we can kind of figure out sort of what format that needs to be in. If it needs to be a wide you know, website banner or needs to be more of a vertical mobile banner or you know whatever that format needs to be a square for Instagram or things like that. So you know, those are the types of things we'll kinda do, potentially after the session.

09:52- Gresham Harkless

So I appreciate that you're able to kinda bring all those things together and be able to kinda coach clients. But I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and this could be for yourself and the business or a combination of both. You might have already touched on this, but what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

10:05- Jared Wolfe

The thing that really makes my sessions unique is that I am focused on sort of that final destination of where that headshot is gonna live. I think a lot of headshot photographers focus on just the photography side and getting a good photo, and they don't think a lot about where is this actually gonna be, who's the actual customer, what are they trying to communicate to the customer about with this headshot. And so they'll focus on just getting, like, a good award-winning headshot that makes other photographers happy. And that's not necessarily bad. It's still going to be a good headshot, but it's just not going to be as useful as a headshot from a business and sort of marketing context and standpoint.

And that's one reason why I really do focus on that, that where is it going to live? Who are you trying to, I guess sort of persuade or market or impact to, you know, are you doing business to business or business to consumer? You know, and just, that's part of the reason why I offer those digital backgrounds and things like that is just that having those sort of cut-out images where you can be on any type of background really allows you to do all sorts of nifty things with, like, Facebook ads and Instagram ads and just a lot of other things, a lot of other marketing materials.

You know, A headshot of you on a gray background or a white background or whatever, has a lot of limited use in terms of its marketability. And, you know, you can't just slap a picture of you on a gray background on any, marketing material and ta-da, that's you. You know? I think having those poses and those cutouts and those sort of design elements really just kinda takes a headshot to that next level that really creates a lot of value, to my customers.

11:49- Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That makes so much sense, and I appreciate you for, again, you know, beginning with the end in mind, so to speak, and understanding this is the final destination. This is where it's going to be. This is the role that it's going to play in that whole psychology piece, which I think so many people, don't realize or kinda skip over, and and and don't and, of course, you know, you get the opportunity to have a really good, you know, headshot, but is that headshot going to be strategic for whatever it is your goal is hoping to be? And I love that you kinda drill down in on that. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

12:27 – Jared Wolfe

You know, I  think some of the things that I have used that have really helped me out are and you've probably heard some of these before, things like using a CRM, you know, where you have some of those templates and things like that to make it easier to respond. Like, there's no sense in writing the same email ten times to ten customers kinda thing. Like, having those kinds of templates and things like that, automation and autoresponders and things like that can just make your life so much easier.

12:54 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

13:05 – Jared Wolfe

That would probably be be that you are not your customer. I think a lot of people when they start their business, they're very passionate about their product and what they do. And I think it's very easy for us to kind of imagine everyone being like us, that they have that same passion that we do and the same reasons and the same motivations and things like that. But, you know, the reality is that that might not necessarily be your customer's reason or need or value, or why they're doing something, you know. And I think the more time and energy you spend sort of getting to know your customer and sort of really understanding what it is they want and need, what is it that's really gonna help you, add business value to them, that's really gonna help you grow your business.

13:58- Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So, Jared, what does being a CEO mean to you?

14:08 – Jared Wolfe

I mean, I guess it's it's, you know, the buck stops here kind of kind of thing where, you know, you're really the, you know, the decision maker. You can't really blame anyone else. You have, you really have to put the onus on you, and if in any kind of, I guess, sort of business failure, you know, that's that's on you. I think a lot of people like to try and blame their customers or their market or their competition or a lot of things like that. But ultimately, you know, you're in charge of your business. You have to figure out how to take that feedback, how to respond, how to re-strategize, how to build a better product, how to market yourself better, whatever that is that you need to do, how to price yourself better.

14:55 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, Jared, I truly appreciate you taking some time out and doing, you know, so many awesome things. What I wanted to do is ask if there's anything additional you wanna let the readers and listeners know and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

15:08 – Jared Wolfe

I mean, I think the easiest, way to find me is, you know, you can just Google my name, Google my business. I actually rank pretty well in, my area for headshots. I get a lot of business from that. So, you know, just searching my name or my business, you'll find me very quickly. And then as far as how to, you know, connect with me, you know, my email, phone number, contact form, all that information there is on my website. I try to make it as easy as possible for people to contact me.

Once again, because I realize, you know, my customers are not necessarily exactly like me, so I prefer to reach out to people by phone. But if you prefer to email, use the contact form, or whatever, that's perfectly fine. I can try to make it as easy as possible for people to contact me. So, yeah, that's that's kind of the recommended way. I would have people, contact me if they're interested in a headshot or other photography services.

16:12 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Jared, truly appreciate that. And to make it even easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes as well too so people can just click through.

16:19 – Gresham Harkless

There you go. And find you.

16:20 – Gresham Harkless

Exactly. Easy as pie. Right? So, Jared, truly appreciate all the awesome things you're doing. Of course, the time you took today, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:29 – Outro

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 rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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