IAM1139- Photographer Makes her Clients Feel Calm and Confident

Mira Whiting is an award-winning portrait and event photographer who loves making her clients feel calm, comfortable, and confident. Mira offers Newborn, Branding, Family, and Event Photography. Also a mom, Mira understands how busy life is and how kids don't always cooperate. Mira is based in the Greater Boston area.

• CEO Hack: Outsourcing
• CEO Nugget: (i) Breath through the difficult moments (ii) Listen to the people who believe in you
• CEO Defined: I can decide what is important in my business, it's all on me

Website: https://mirawhiting.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mirawhiting/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirawhitingphotography

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Transcription

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00:22 – 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. Gresh 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.

00:49 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. And I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Mira Whiting of mirawhiting.com. Mira, it's great to have you on the show.

00:58 – Mira Whiting

Thanks so much. It's great to be here.

01:01 – 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 Mira so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Mira is an award-winning portrait and event photographer who loves making her clients feel calm, comfortable, and confident. Mira offers newborn branding, family, and event photography. And also a mom, Mira understands how busy life is and how kids don't always cooperate. Mira is based in the greater Boston area and she has some phenomenal work that she's done. So I'm super excited to have you on, Mira. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:32 – Mira Whiting

I'm so excited.

01:33 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's do it then. So to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit. Here is a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

01:41 – Mira Whiting

So I have always loved photographing people, basically since I was 12 years old. And it had been a serious hobby for a really long time. And then shortly after my second child was born, I realized a lot of friends were asking me to take their family photos for their holiday cards. And one of them handed me $50 one time and it was like this light bulb went off where I was like, oh, I could turn this thing that I absolutely love doing and have a major passion for, into something that would help support my family.

02:23 – Mira Whiting

And so it took me a couple of months to get everything off the ground. But I started that fall.

02:31 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely love that. And so many, it's so funny that you say that because when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, I went back and looked at a lot of the childhood things that we do that sometimes we're just doing it just because we love doing it. And we sometimes forget that those are maybe some of the things that light us up more than anything else. And we can sometimes bring that back into what we're doing in today's world.

02:51 – Mira Whiting

Exactly. Exactly.

02:54 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more, hear a little bit more on how you work with your clients and how you serve them. Could you take us through a little bit more about that?

03:03 – Mira Whiting

Yeah, so I usually hear from clients through my website, where they reach out and tell me what their photography needs are. And then we sort of go through that and figure out how I can best help them. And sometimes I'm not the best fit and I'll say, oh, you know what, so-and-so is actually perfect for you. I'm in an amazing community of local photographers around here And we all refer to each other. And it really, I think it really helps to serve our clients best so that, you know, one of us isn't, you know, trying to do absolutely everything.

You know, we can figure out who fits each client's needs best. And so then if they are going to work with me, we work on location options and we work on scheduling, because for photography, the light is really, really important. So we often schedule for the hour right after sunrise and, or right before sunset, which is called golden hour, where there's this really nice, soft, flattering light. And you know, we talked about whether they want to do an in home session or if it's a branding shoot, you know, something in their office space to show off what they do, or if they want to be out in nature or have a more urban vibe.

So I have a bunch of location options that I can suggest to them based on how they answer those questions. And then the next step once they're booked is that they get to consult with my friend Chrisann who is an amazing stylist. Absolutely fantastic. Fashion is not my strong suit. So I partner with Chrisann and all of my portrait sessions include a 30 minute consult with her on wardrobe. So that the clients feel really good about, you know, the overall look of their family or of their team, if it's an office, and they feel really good about themselves going into the session.

So then we meet and I photograph them and my photography process is very play-based. Even, you know, even when I'm not doing family photography, when I'm doing branding stuff, it's still very play-based, very prompt-based rather than very formally posed. Because I think that like especially for branding images for small businesses, it's really important that that personality comes through so that it doesn't look like just sort of a standard portrait. Once we're done with the actual photography, I take the images back, I call them, I delete all the blanks, all of the funny faces where you were halfway through a word, all of that stuff.

But anything that meets my standards gets fully edited and put in a gallery, which is then emailed to the client and they can download their images and they can either print through the gallery through the professional ads I partner with, or they can print on their own.

06:35 – Gresham Harkless

Nice, I absolutely love that process. I appreciate you for taking us through it. I love that play piece because I think so many, and I think that kind of even goes back to what we were talking about, being younger and having these seeds planted that we end up watering and cultivating and growing into businesses, I think so much can come from play, but especially as we get older, sometimes we can get away from that. So I imagine those branding sessions, all the sessions I imagine, when you have that play as a centerpiece, it really lets people's personalities, that emotion, that relationship, all those things kind of take forward from there.

07:09 – Mira Whiting

Absolutely. And that's really what like capturing those relationships, whether that's within a family, whether that's a mother and a newborn or a relationship of a business owner to their clients. That's really what makes me tick. That's what I've always loved capturing.

07:31 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like you can definitely see that in your photos and in your work and everything that you do. And I love that stylist piece as well too. And understanding, I think so many times, like you said, with the photographer community, you have so many times we can hold on to everything and try to do all the things, but understanding our strengths and being able to kind of partner or have relationships and connections with other people allow at the end of the day that the product to be the best that it could be.

07:56 – Mira Whiting

Yes, definitely.

07:57 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So would you consider that to be what I like to call your secret sauce. The thing you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique. Is it that ability to be able to collaborate and also to bring that play out in your sessions?

08:08 – Mira Whiting

Yes. And also just, the most important thing for me is that my clients feel comfortable on the camera, like in front of the camera. I personally hate having my photo taken, which I know sounds a little weird coming from a photographer.

08:29 – Gresham Harkless

You're smart. You're on the right side of the camera though.

08:31 – Mira Whiting

Exactly. I'm behind the camera.

08:35 – Gresham Harkless

There you go. I'm all set.

08:38 – Mira Whiting

But you know, I think it really allows me to feel a lot of empathy for my clients who often feel really awkward getting in front of the camera. Especially the women I photograph. You know, I hear all of these societal messages about body image coming out of their mouths. And, you know, my goal is to help them feel more confident in themselves and more comfortable being who they are in this moment. And so that's, I think, what makes me unique.

09:17 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that and it's so funny I was going to actually ask you that about, you know, do you have people that potentially, you know, don't feel as comfortable in front of the camera or want to do it? I love that you mentioned that in the calm, comfortable, and confident, you know, that I talked about, you know, when introducing you as well too, because I think so many times we don't see that, you know, what society sometimes is putting on us and making or defining us might be a better way to say it and how that manifests itself. So I love that you obviously do that during the session, but I imagine those plant those seeds that, you know, carry on throughout people's lives.

09:51 – Mira Whiting

I would hope that they do. Yeah.

09:55 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure they do. And I will, I wanted to switch gears a little bit, And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

10:09 – Mira Whiting

Outsourcing for sure. Not trying to do it all. So we've already talked about how I outsource styling advice because that is not my strongest suit. And so I hand it off to somebody who's more expert at that than I am. Social media also doesn't come supernaturally to me. So that's something that I outsource. And just sort of, you know, then I have more energy to do the things that I love to do. And really put my energy where it needs to be instead of into like all of these things that are important, but they don't have to be me, right? Like, you know, it doesn't have to be the one women's band.

10:58 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. I love that you shared that. And it's so funny. I always say, starting a business, a lot of times you have to be on a balance beam where you have to have the ego to believe like, hey, I can do that photo session. I can make you look really awesome and I can bring back all those awesome features that you have in your life and who you are and your personality. But you also have to have that other side of the balance beam where you say, okay, I don't need to do everything. I don't need to control everything. I can partner with people. I could delegate. I can outsource those things. And that's a lot of times that balance beam that helps us to be successful.

11:34 – Mira Whiting

Yeah, it took me several years to figure that out. And I'm so glad I did. Like my business has grown tremendously since I figured that out.

11:42 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, and I appreciate you sharing that because I myself, you know, struggle with that and still struggle with that as well. But it's so important to kind of understand that not only does that provide a blessing in our business and the work that we do, but sometimes for other people as well too, because their lane may not be our lanes and you get the opportunity to kind of grow and prosper together.

12:00 – Mira Whiting

Exactly.

12:01 – 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 piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

12:13 – Mira Whiting

If I had to hop into a time machine and tell my younger business self something, I would say to just breathe through those tough moments because there have been a few set major setbacks and to listen to the people who do believe in you, that you get through, and that things get better on the other side.

12:41 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I think that's so strong. And I think it's powerful because so many times we don't hear about the less than glamorous side of entrepreneurship a lot of times. And I think that a lot of times, you know, when growing a business, when going through life, frankly, you go through those pitfalls and those things happen, but you need to be very aware of who and what you're putting into like our minds, what we're listening to and who we're surrounding ourselves around because that's what's going to allow us to continue to kind of go through those next things.

13:12 – Mira Whiting

Absolutely.

13:13 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And so many times people don't realize the journey of entrepreneurship and the most successful people. However, we define that, you will look at their biographies and see their lives and realize that they went through those times too. The difference between them as they continued on.

13:28 – Mira Whiting

Yeah, absolutely.

13:30 – Gresham Harkless

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

13:43 – Mira Whiting

It means that I'm the one charting the course, that I can decide what is important in my business, that if something isn't working, I can just pivot, that it's really on me, and that the business reflects me and I reflect the business.

14:12 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, and I think that's so powerful that last point that you make because I think you hear it a lot in life and especially in business that sometimes our businesses and our lives can be a reflection of like sometimes our thoughts, our patterns, the things that we do. And once we start to understand that we can take control. It's a very powerful place to be because you can start to chart that course. You can take those steps, those actions, make sure you're surrounding yourself with those right people to get to exactly where you wanna be.

14:41 – Mira Whiting

Exactly.

14:43 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. We truly appreciate that definition and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just 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 of course how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

14:57 – Mira Whiting

All right, well, I'm so glad that you've had me on your show. It's been a lot of fun. I am, you know, you can find me at mirawhiting.com and on Facebook and Instagram at Mira Whiting. I actually currently have 2 classes that I'm offering on my website. They're self paced so you can do them on your own. One on photo organization because we now all have so many photos that it's hard to tell what to do with them. And another one about taking better photos with your phone because I can't always be in your back pocket. So, you know, how to best capture those moments when I'm not there.

15:43 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I appreciate that. We will definitely have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can get a copy of those and take those courses as well too. And I love that empowerment piece. I don't know if that's a strong part of your secret sauce as well too, and being able to kind of empower people, but it sounds like it.

15:57 – Mira Whiting

Yeah.

15:58 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Well, we'll definitely have that information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. But I appreciate you so much and take some time out and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:07 – Outro