She Built a Dream From Side Hustle | #23 (Alexa Englesbe)

The world evolves. You think you know everything and then it changes and you have to just adapt. I have built up my photography side business so much and just knew that I wanted to have that flexibility. So I quit that job and then I just went headfirst into my own business. In my industry, I hear stories three months later like, oh, good thing you didn't get that job. Oh my God, what a nightmare. Everything fell down this, that. And I'm like, all right, I don't wish bad on anyone, but I'm glad I didn't get that job. Hi, I'm Pat Miller, and welcome to my podcast, From Underdog to Entrepreneur, Building Dreams. Ten years ago, when my husband passed away, I was left alone to restart a commercial construction company that was dormant for almost two years. In a male-dominated industry, everyone counted me out. The way I did it was I created relationships, long-term relationships, with other people like myself. underdogs. Underdogs that were battling their own way in their own industry. And together we created very successful companies. When they grew, I grew. When I, they grew. So with that, I would like to welcome you to my show from underdog to entrepreneur with none other than me, Pat Miller. Welcome. Welcome back to from underdog to entrepreneur building dreams. I'm Pat Miller. I'm also the owner of Blue Diamond Construction here in New Jersey. I wear so many hats, I didn't know where I was right there. But anyway, I like to bring on, every week I like to inspire the listeners and bring on super successful entrepreneurs to tell their story about how they got to where they are, or at least share some insight on their respective industries and where they work. Today, I'm happy to welcome Alexa Inglesby. Alexa is the owner of Alexa Lynn Photography, a high-end wedding and portrait services company. She is a storyteller at heart. Her photos are often described as timeless, joyful, and vibrant. Her services are offered on Style Me Pretty, The Knot, New Jersey Bride, and Wedding Chicks. Awesome stuff. Bringing her many awards and accolades. Wow. Love it. Welcome. How are you? Hi. Thank you so much for having me, Pat. I'm so excited to talk with you today. Yeah. Yeah. I'm so glad we finally got together. You know, everybody's schedules are so busy. We kept scheduling Mixon and Maction and today we're finally here. So look at you. You really are killing it. You're doing well. I like to start my show with the origin story like we chatted before. I like to know where you started, if it was your original career, if you pivoted from another career. So tell my audience about your origin story. How'd you get started? Yeah, for sure. So I originally wanted to work in the world of magazines. That was my dream growing up. I used to love getting like 17 magazine and Teen Vogue sent to my house every month. And I just loved that glamorous world of, you know, the fashion, beauty and even like writing was really fun for me. and as I went to college, I went to James Madison University in Virginia and I majored in media arts and design, which was a pretty broad major. But I graduated and I started to look for jobs in New York City, but and I had a decent amount of interviews at the magazines that I wanted to work at. But as you know, a lot of print was starting to die. It was just all moving digital. So there wasn't a lot of opportunity there. And somebody that I went to school with suggested I joined this networking group. And I ended up landing a job from that in the field of public relations, which is really similar. public like PR people are the ones who are pitching the magazines like their products to get into the magazine so so it was really similar and I had those skills and I I landed a job at a small firm that specialized in beauty products and that it was a lot of fun but when I first came on I was only part-time and I was looking for a way to supplement that income I was living at home you know like 22 23 years old and I just started googling things that I liked doing like jobs that I would want and one of those was wedding planning and so I just googled like wedding planners in my area and made a connection with a wedding planner who I know I'm still friends with their company and I came on doing some writing for her I did like her blog I would help her make like little signs for you know the wedding couples days like the welcome sign on that just whatever she needed like small help with and she yeah it was a lot of fun and she shared a studio with a photographer so then they said hey can you do the same stuff for us like we need help on our back end too and I was like yeah of course absolutely so that's where I kind of started learning a little bit more about the camera and that side of a wedding day. And I just, I really enjoyed it a lot. And eventually, you know, I continued my job in the city for two years, but I wanted to do something else. You know, it was like, do I move to the city? Do I now? Like, what do I do? Ended up finding another full-time job in Pennsylvania. And I I always kept having this side gig of like helping the wedding, the wedding people. And somewhere along those lines, I bought a camera myself and just started teaching myself and like learning from YouTube, learning from the photographer I was working with. I started reaching out to other photographers to be like assistants on wedding days with them. And then eventually I moved up to being, they call it like a second shooter. So there's like always the lead shooter and then a second and then an assistant sometimes. So I started becoming a second shooter on wedding days and learning more that way. Of course, I was working in Pennsylvania, the other full-time job, which was also play. I was doing another PR job for a tourism bureau, which was a lot of fun, too. And I stayed there for six years. and so eventually what happened was I got married and I was like where is this going like where do I want my career to go and I had built up my photography side business so much and just knew that I wanted to have that flexibility thank you that comes with you know we wanted to have kids one day and I just really enjoyed owning something and like creating this other baby of mine and being the one in control of it and my career trajectory. So I quit that job and then I just went like headfirst into my own business. Yeah, that's a great story. So you were actually, you pivoted, right? Your industry was kind of dying. The magazines weren't that big anymore. So you reinvented yourself. And all of you look backwards, right? I call connecting the dots backwards. If you look backwards, all the jobs that you took prepared you for running this business. You realize that? Yeah, absolutely. And even growing up, like as a teenager, when I was a waitress, I was, I worked at like an ice cream parlor, a babysat. And just all those like little life skills really helped me to like deal with so many things that comes with running a business, especially the industry that I'm in. And YouTube is like so people facing and just like learning how to communicate well, making small talk even like I just make small talk all the time. Just so many skills that you have to because you're still dealing with the public just on a more personal level. Yeah, people take photography. And I mean, you do your website's incredible. do a lot of special moments. So people get a little bit, you know, wrapped up in how exactly they want it. So you're, you know, you build relationships, don't you? And that's my next question to you. So as you built the company, you, I always say, you never know what job you take. And you, you took a job, right? Doing the back end of weddings and then somebody else saw you and then you got more experience. So I always talk about that to the younger kids. Don't worry about the little jobs because the big jobs are right around the corner. I preach that all the time. And that happened to you. You didn't even realize it. You just kept, you know, going through the motions and taking one step to the next. And then obviously your personal life dictated that, hey, I want to do this full time because being an entrepreneur and a mother, it kind of has its benefits, doesn't it? You make it used when you can and when you're willing to work. So that's a great story. It tells the same thing about you might go to school for one thing, but you might wind up doing something else. Look at me. Went to school for accounting. Now I'm running a construction company. You just don't know, but I use all those experiences to run a successful company. So it's important to take everything you can, keep your interests right, and follow your gut. It sounds like you followed your gut. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I never thought I was going to be an entrepreneur. Nobody in my family did it. Everyone, I think, kind of, yeah, nobody did. I think my parents were always very like maybe don't go that route because it's so risky and then when I finally did it it's funny because now my my sister has her own business my dad has his own business so it's like somebody just needed to get their foot in the door to be like it's okay like we're gonna be okay it's it's a viable look it's a risk no risk no reward that's a true statement you have to take the risk and then you have to jump in feet first and just you know you said yourself on your um on your origin story that you you kind of taught yourself what you didn't know yeah what you didn't know you looked up you got information you became educated and and there's so many i say it all the time alexa there's so many resources that if you don't know something it's okay. You say you don't know it or just find it. YouTube University is very good. I always say that. You could be a freaking mechanic on YouTube. It's incredible. I'm waiting for them to have surgeries, but we won't go there. I tell my guys that all the time. But that's awesome. So I've used your services. Anybody listening out there, because you have a very, very good eye for detail. and that's important when you have photography services because like i said people want to put their personal um and and you know it's tough they want to put their personal touch even though they're not doing it right so they have to convey to you exactly what they're looking for and sometimes i even know in my industry what's in people's heads is not exactly what they're explaining right right so it could be a little difficult trying to um work with people trying and get them what they want. Although I think at this point, what are you in 10 years now? Yeah, I'm like hitting 10 years this year. Wow, good for you. You would have never thought that, huh? No, no, I know. It's like, oh my gosh. Yeah, so I saw it like you're in all the magazines. I saw your venture listed. That's great. No, I mean, come on. That's what you strive for, right? I know. It's funny how it kind of comes like full circle too because I wanted to be in magazines. And now I'm like, oh, I'm able to get my photos in some. This is really cool. You are in magazines. Just a different way. Yeah, a different way, right? The world evolves. Different way. And I saw you do it. I don't know if you've always done it, but you're doing destinations too or you travel? I'm trying to do a little bit more of that. But as I grow, I've always been an avid traveler. And I mean, now I have a two-year-old son. Yeah, that's kind of hard right now. It's kind of slowed down a little bit. But as, you know, he grows and my career grows, like that is definitely something I would love to do. Yeah, that's probably a good gig. I mean, I'm sure they pay for travel and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. It would definitely be. I want to ask you when you started out. I don't know much about your industry. Was it very competitive? Were you the underdog and you had to kind of prove yourself? Or did your work speak for itself? you got into a certain network circle of people that do it how does it work is there people that kind of control the industry they well known yeah photography is a pretty saturated industry Okay And when I started I would get a lot of clients on these Facebook mom groups that are very prevalent And these moms are always looking for things to do or for relatively cheaper photographers, especially ones who are starting out sometimes. And so that is how I got my first few clients. And then from there, it just kind of snowballed into like word of mouth helped a lot. And I started building up like my website and my social media presence. So today I'd say I get a lot of referrals from Instagram and Facebook, but also from word of mouth and Google. Okay. So meeting is big for you. Meeting is big. Meeting is big. I've had a lot of, you know, I've shot someone's wedding and then I'll shoot the bridesmaid's wedding or her sister's wedding. So I really like making those personal connections. yeah you have to family members too just because my reputation really rides on that a lot and yeah as you know as I grow too like I like making relationships even with like the wedding planners and just the other vendors too because we kind of will refer each other out a lot too like when somebody books and I'll tell them like well here's the videographers I like to work with Here's the floor. And all the venues have the preferreds too, right? They do. Yeah. A lot of them have those. So that's kind of hard to break into, right? It's kind of hard. Yeah. Yeah, it is. I'm on like a few, which is awesome. And I will see some traction there. Okay. But yeah, it's it's hit or miss too. Like sometimes people reach out and, you know, I always try and have a consultation call with them to see like how we're vibing on the phone. Oh, that's so smart. Yeah, you really need to make that connection because, I don't know, you could just look at somebody's website and be like, yeah, maybe. I don't think I've ever really booked somebody without talking to them first. That's actually really smart. Yeah. It is, because if you don't have that energy and it gets off on the wrong foot, it's just going to be difficult. It's going to make your job harder. Yeah. Is that something you do too, I'm sure? Yeah, I always do. I was just going to say, it's actually interesting to me how networking and the types of networking kind of are very similar in every industry. So I kind of work with my vendors, you know, I refer a lot of electricians, plumbers, they refer me. So it's the same thing in your industry, right? Videographers, you know, photographers. I'm sure you know a lot of DJs, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's similar. That's how, you know, I like to, I always say I like to network before with me and after me, you know, because I meet with the clients and go out and test the soil, do the site work and then the people work with me. That's just how I run my business. I'm sure it's kind of similar to you. Yeah. Yeah. It's like before. So the wedding planners would come first, right? Yep. The planners. Yeah. And then, I mean, I work a lot of the same venues now. So I see a lot of the same people. So that's really nice. And then after two, I always, you know, I don't want to totally leave my clients in the dark after I send them their photos. So I usually will do like a few check ins. But no, I think I have like a system built where like after their first anniversary, I do kind of slow down a little bit. Maybe I'll add them to like an e-newsletter list where I send out. Yeah, for my mini sessions, which are more focused on like, you know, you just saw 15 minutes of photos. You want like, you get like 15 photos from that. But that's really smart because you might get future work. Who knows? Anniversary pics. Right. Yeah. If they have a baby. Right. A baby pictures. Oh, those are so cute. You know. Yeah, it's fun to follow the journey. And the ones that, you know, Kevin and Danielle that just had the baby. they they got them I think in the hospital have those as a vendor yeah the hospitals um offer that a lot now there's there's special photographers who specialize in that yeah which is so there's all kinds of opportunities you have to kind of channel your energy on where you want to go yeah yeah and I'll say too like it's so like when I first started and I'm sure anybody who's like starting you kind of want to be like everything to everyone I say that all the time you want to Yeah. And like you really can't know if you want to like you do have to choose a few things or one thing to focus on and just get really good at it. Like my mom would tell me all the time when I was starting out like, oh, this guy needs photos. Can you do it? I'm like, yeah, but like I don't really shoot that way. Like even real estate, I'll get some people who will be like, oh, I have a house. Can you shoot? I'm like, you need a special like wide lens for that. Like I'm so focused on like people and just, you know, posing them. And I just wouldn't be good at it. I just know I wouldn't be good at shooting a house. You're being honest. Yeah, yeah, I know. But and I don't see I don't even know if I want to shoot a house. So yeah, I know. And that's that's even more competitive. They do like 500 bucks. That's too much work for too little money. But that's exactly what you should do, though. You should concentrate on what interests you most and what you're doing the best. Like I don't do residential. People are like, how come you don't do residential? Construction is construction. It's not my thing. I use metal. They use wood. It's just not my thing. I concentrate on what I'm good at. And you make it. My dad, the rest of his soul, always said, stick to what you know. That's where you make your most money. And that's right. You're more comfortable. You can give a better product. and it's smart of you to run your business that way. That's a business strategy. Yeah, definitely. And you can, I think you can always outsource too if you need, like, or, you know, but people always say like to hire, hire people smarter than you. Like, I always think if I'm going to bring on, like, I don't have too many outsourcing, but, you know, I have a person who will write my blog sometimes. And she's just like a fantastic writer and this is what she does. And I'm like, well, I don't have the time and I don't have the skill set to do this. Like, I want to hire somebody who's going to like. Right. But you know that. So, you know that it's not your thing and your time is better well served making money with your own talents. Right. So you learn that as you as you become longer in business that you can't do everything. Right. And that's why they have attorneys. and right CPAs and and and communications people because you can't do everything and if you're taking the time to concentrate on all that but it's not little stuff but it's important stuff but if you're taking your time away from what you how you make your money yes it's kind of counterproductive it really is you want to you want to bring the income in and they can help you do that yeah so yeah have you had any speed bumps did anything go wrong did you have any nightmare weddings i have to know um because you hear all these stories about these nightmare weddings i know i know i i've been lucky knock on wood that i haven't had any good really freak out at me or just totally you know anything wrong i mean no i've been really fortunate i've had i'm trying to think if i have any juicy stories for you but But I really don't because you talk to them first. That's why. Because you interview them. So you kind of get rid of all that. Yeah, you can start to spot the red flags on people too. And I mean, I've had inquiries where even if I've talked to them and then I'm like, I just don't know some of the stuff they're saying, if they're going to like what I give them or if they're going to be really easy to work with. And then I'll kind of be like, you know what? I got another gig that day. I'm so sorry. And you know what? There's nothing. That's why I want everybody to know there's nothing wrong with saying no. Yeah, there really isn't. I always hang my hat on that. The best job you ever got was the one you lost or the one you didn't want. Because there's a reason. And sometimes in my industry, I hear stories three months later like, oh, good thing you didn't get that job. Oh, my God, what a nightmare. Everything fell down, this, that. And I'm like, all right, I don't wish bad on anyone, but I'm glad I didn't get that job. Yeah, thank goodness. So that's good, but you must have learned along the way. What did you learn? I mean, you had to learn business and accounting. Business. Oh, yes. Well, luckily you have that background for your business. I do, but you don't. So, you know, that's part of becoming an entrepreneur. You kind of, I always tell the young kids, take a class in accounting. You're going to know how to count your money real fast. Yes, I think that. Yeah, but like, I mean, taxes, learning that was annoying and just the bookkeeping. Yeah. And the business structure, right? You had to learn a lot about that. Yeah. And that's something I'm always like refining too, is I've tried to build some like systems in place where like, okay, I mean, not everybody is the same, but like the process is always the same. I get an inquiry, I talk to them. Once they book, like, here's what happens. You know, they'll sign a contract. We'll plan an engagement session. We'll work on their timeline. We'll have the wedding. I'll give them their photos. There's a process. And I think having a process in place is so helpful, especially when you start to get a lot of clients. Yeah. Because your mind will be in a million places. So I use a really good software for that called HoneyBook. What is it called? It's called HoneyBook. I like it. Like QuickBooks. QuickBooks I use that too for accounting or for But HoneyBook is for scheduling? It's a project management tool Oh wow Yeah I have a referral code if anybody wants Well make sure you give it to me We'll always put it on the episode I never heard of it This is interesting to me Yeah yeah so it's a project management tool And that really helps me stay on track of everyone and it will just tell me where in the pipeline everybody is. Because when you have like, I have 26 weddings this year, which is crazy. And everybody is in a different, yeah, thank you, like a stage. So I could be planning someone's timeline. And then another person, I'm still working on their engagement session. And another person's like, that's great. I like to send their photos. Thank you. So I have to just keep track of all of that. So having a process in place. So do you have an assistant? No. I don't have an assistant. That's funny book is basically my assistant. Honey book is your assistant. That's your AI assistant. Everybody's got AI. I get these emails. I'm like, is this a real person? I know. They have names and everything. Yeah, it's kind of creepy, but it's also really helpful. It is creepy, but it's very organized. I'm talking, I'm like, I'm saying to my girl, Stephanie, I'm like, this girl, this girl, Liz, reached out to his pet. It's not really Liz. i'm laughing because like how do we know i'm dating myself now it's like all new for me but i tell you i spent the full day saturday with claude ai incredible oh my god incredible gave me a whole business profile uh floor plans layouts it's incredible wow that's great that i got out of there. It gave me financial forecasts, you know, the going rates for everything. Like you can get everything. Yeah. A lot of wedding people now, oh, I'm sorry. No, that's okay. It's incredible. I'm like blown away. Yeah. A lot of wedding friends that I have had said that they're starting to see, you know, we'll put on the inquiry form, like, how did you hear about me? And some people will say chat GPT. So people are finding their wedding vendors on chat GPT or, you know, anybody in which I don't even think to look to them for like you know the services that I need but now I'm like maybe I should ask chat what I need a new service like yeah you be surprised because you know I had another guest on that that his whole Mike Greenberg that his industry And he like Patty I can build you something And you can know where every piece of land is for sale Who owns it? What LLC? And I'm like, he goes all by 10 o'clock. And I'm like, really? He's like throughout the country. And I'm like, that's incredible. What they do, you know, they scan the internet. They know. They just blow through all the databases. and the more you're in different books, this, that, they're going to pull you up. They will. Yeah. It's smart. Yeah. It is smart. So sometimes when I can't sleep, I always do that. I always say, what's going on with Pat Miller? I'll do that too. See, you have to. Or like, find my website. I'll Google yourself. Remember that? You all like what you see. But I think AI is a little bit more positive. I think they kind of give you the good stuff. Right. Yeah. I know a lot of people are like afraid of it and it is kind of like scary in some ways, but it has been helpful with like writing emails, like you said. And I also use there's a for photographers, there's a service called Imagine, which is a photo editing software. So I can run my photos through it and you kind of type in a profile like this is my style and eventually it like learns your style. um and yeah which is great so then i run like every session through there and i call it like my base coat like it'll get my photos looking how i like them and then i'll just go through and kind of refine them and like be like all right now i want to fix this color that's like a preliminary like touch up right and then you put your own you know flare on it but that's a lot of time saves so much time and before that you know i would i would outsource an editor occasionally to just do all of that for me and it was pretty expensive and imagine I think it's like five cents an image um when you do like a thousand images I don't know I mean it could add up but it was it's so much cheaper than when I was paying an editor um so and it's so fast like done in like minutes so I really like that's something so it has its purpose everybody needs to calm down yes yes everybody's freaking out you know yeah it can well it's like anything else in life you know when there's change people like to push back a little bit so look the human human nature people are creatures of habit you know they get comfortable they don't like change and it's hard to change and then it's fear of the unknown if you don't open your mind i i open my mind to it because I figured it's here. I might as well utilize it. And I was blown away at some of the stuff that I got. Like, I was like, I was so excited. I'm like, this is incredible. I just saved money with, you know, getting an accountant to do my forecasting, this, that. It gave you everything. Wireframe, how to get started, colors, font, everything. Fonds to use, what's the best for eye, catching your eye. um i mean even a logo i was blown away i'm like this is incredible yeah totally i'm doing a commercial for claude now it's 200 bucks a year wow it's totally worth it yeah it's totally worth it but yeah you're gonna get to the point it sounds like 26 weddings 52 weeks in a year yeah well i know it's like when you think about it that way it that's i can't even do the math that's like half of a year that's a half of a weekend right because you most of your stuff's on the weekend or you notice some changes a lot of it's on the weekend i do some friday weddings and like the occasional thursday wedding uh some people get married yeah thursday right yeah yeah i don't i actually like a thursday wedding because then i have my weekend to myself Wait, didn't you get married on a Thursday? I got married on a Thursday. Yeah, I went to your wedding. Come on. I know. I got married on a Friday when it was like the taboo in the 80s. They're like, who's this chick getting married on a Friday? Nobody does that. So maybe I started that too. You probably did. Yeah, Friday's a great day too. Friday's a great day. And I hear this, I don't know what you see, Sunday afternoons. Yeah, that happens too. That happens too. so as you grow i mean obviously you want to have another photographer see i'm really funny with referrals you got to really know somebody and make sure they they share the same values right right yeah it's hard especially i think in my industry where it's like an art and it's so subjective um so what i something like as we're talking about change is i've noticed a lot of people reaching out to me for bridal and baby shower photography um I mean people are planning these elaborate elaborately designed showers now they're really beautiful yeah it's unbelievable see how much money people are throwing at these but you know what I had a crazy baby shower too so I can't say anything thank you no it's it's fun I think I think really people just like planning and having a nice party. Like if you're really into hosting. You know when you're planning one thing, it's like, oh, let's do this too. And then you forgot what you started with and then all of a sudden you have 12, 13, 14. We're doing this, we're doing that. And then you forget where you started. Yes, exactly. Somebody said to me the other day, and I'm dating myself. I didn't give my daughter a 16th birthday party, so I gave her cash. They could have cost me 50 grand. I almost fell off the chair. Oh my God. $50,000 for a sweet 16? Yeah, no. Oh, my gosh. That's insane. I'd rather give my kid the 50 grand for a house. Yeah, yeah. I know. I would, too. I forgot sweet 16s. But people are spending it, Alexa. I know. So there's always a market for it. There's a market. What is the wedding industry? Trillion dollars or billions? I don't know. Boundly. It's got to be in the billions. It's huge. Yeah, it's a lot. But so back to what I was saying with the showers is I was getting all these inquiries for that. And I do a few here and there. But what I started doing is I had an associate team now. So a few photographers who will work under my name and shoot for me. Just showers. I'm kind of nervous to dive into the weddings just yet. Yeah, I agree. And a bigger expense. But they'll shoot showers. They do a great job. They just go, they send me the photos. I conduct all the business and I do all the editing. So I'm really just paying them for their time and their talent. And that's a way that I've brought on people. And, you know, it's funny because like, I didn't originally start to see myself doing baby and bridal showers, but I think you have to follow what the market wants. Yeah, follow trends. And like, if this is what people want, then how am I going to figure out a way to like make it a service and cater to them and grow my business in return? So that's how I started bringing out associates. That's smart. Because you can also follow their talent, see if it fits with you to maybe someday do some weddings. Right. But that's how you grow your business and you become you oversee other people. So as long as they they fit the mold with what you're what you produce, there's nothing wrong with it. And that's actually smart to do it with the showers because you could see them. It's not as more personal. It is, but it's not. I see what you're saying. But you have to be careful, right? Because it's your name that's on the company. Yes, you do have to be careful. That's actually like a little story I have. there is you know one time I I was training somebody like I'll have the associates come on a few showers with me first like this is how I work you know what to expect most of them they have their own business and they do a good job anyways and I don't have any concerns but I did have like one person come on who was brand new and she did fine but I think when I finally threw her out to the wolves there the client that she ended up working with was so particular oh boy that's the worst oh my god she hated everything i was freaking out i ended up giving her like a full refund for her barial shower because i was just trying to save my reputation and was so scared um and then you know i felt bad that poor girl i was like i don't know if this is gonna be a threat and she was she was awesome but um yeah you just really have to be able to trust that that is a tough one kid because you can't redo the shoot yeah so thank god it wasn't a wedding so that's why i was like it's just your brunch hour you're gonna be okay oh you did the right thing you gave her a refund i mean you saved your face look nobody's perfect you know it's gonna happen but hopefully it doesn't but yeah if it does you you did the right thing you remain professional and you saved your company's name hopefully she's not bad mouthing you out there that's all yeah thank god she was understanding after that i mean she did get the pictures really were not that bad like i think she was just a very particular client and i didn't understand her sense of you know criticism of herself so much just like oh man okay well here you go i just i can't deal with it sounds like me right when we did my shoot don't look this way don't go that way no that was nothing compared to this girl you're really no we got to another one. I said we got to do something in the pool at the park or whatever. Yes. No, everybody loved your work. Thank you. Thank you. No. Yeah, it was fun too. Got to see it. Although it was like a hundred degrees in that building. I don't know. I know. I know. But no, those are great. You never know what you're going to get, right? Yeah. We could have picked outside and it could have rained. You just don't know. So that's another thing that probably throws a wrench in your calendar is the weather, right? Yes, you always have to be prepared with the weather, with the rain on wedding days. I have like 10 clear umbrellas in my trunk at all times. Oh, wow. Yeah, I always have umbrellas. And I mean, most venues these days have a pretty foyer or we'll just make it work somehow inside. That's all you can do. Yeah, I've worked. I mean, like last year, it was crazy storm that I worked on an island in Long Beach Island area and it was flooded. We still were able to get a lot of good stuff inside and they were happy with it. I don't know. It can't really get mad at you because of the weather. You just make do with it and you keep going. You satisfy the client or you hope to anyway. I'm glad you're going in the right direction associates building your business networking all good stuff business 101 yeah thank you you too so what what's your what's your angle you want to have 10 people under you what are you big studio your own studio what do you what's your angle i don't know if i don't know as far as like growing with associates that I think maybe that would be nice to have um well you can only do so much yeah you're gonna hit the ceiling definitely definitely and it's like I can take fewer weddings uh charge more for them yeah so like I could do that way and that's kind of the way I've been uh 26 is not a few but like I I envisioned myself being like you know what I have a kid now. I want to have another kid one day. So maybe I'll just take less weddings. I'll just have to increase the pricing on them. But then it's always like, will my market take to that? I don't know. I look, I talked with a lot of other wedding photographers and, you know, a lot of people say if you want to grow, you have to go like for those prices are. So like kind of marketing more towards like New York City, people who are going to spend like a lot more on a wedding day or something. Oh, it's the market though, right? Yeah. But then I don't know, like with inflation and everything, it's hard. So I could do that and then just focus more on like having a lot of portrait sessions to make up that income So where do you do those Alexa The portrait sessions What Are you talking about the portrait sessions what the the are you talking about the portrait session portraits yeah yes so i photograph families i do engagements maternity and a lot of times i do them outside so you know i'll do like parks the beach wherever people are drawn to and occasionally i'll host you know some session days in a studio that there's a lot of studios around New Jersey that you can just like rent for the day, rent for an hour. I was going to ask you that. Yeah. Is there a place to go that you can rent? Yep. Yep. There's a few places. I like it. Yeah. So you offer a variety of different services, which is good. Yeah. But you're right. You know, if you want to have another child, it's going to take time. It's okay. You want to be a mom for a short period of time. To me, 18 years is a short period when they grow up. But you do less. in charge a little more, but it was a fine line, right? So you got to get that high and low kind of sweet spot, right? Before you lose clients. It's tough. I know you really, it's hard to phase out. Like I think about when I first started and those people that I worked with for, you know, pennies at this rate, I don't really speak or not speak, But I don't work with those people anymore just because I went up a price bracket. But now I'm in this stage where I have a lot of retainer clients, people that will come back to me for their family photos every year, which is awesome. But it's like I can't jump a thousand dollars on these people. They're not going to come back. So, yeah, that's something. That's a tough one. You got to keep your finger on the pulse of the economy, too, because it's kind of the first thing that goes. Right. Yeah. The things that are. But I think photos are important. I mean, like I said, you can't get that moment back. Yeah. Yeah. There's no redo. You can't say, oh, like us, we'll come and reframe it. No, it's a moment in somebody's life that they want to document and you can't redo it. yeah I don't know I don't maybe are you recession proof I don't know yeah I wasn't really I mean I started my business in 2016 but I was always doing it as on the side until 2022 is when I went full-time and I know a lot of people my friends had to go through COVID when people moved their weddings and you know nobody that was a tough times yeah so i was very thankful that i didn't have to figure that out but i don't i don't know i mean yeah you don't need to have a family shoot so so it is it isn't totally recession proof unless you figure out a creative way well i mean recession proof but i mean cutting it out completely maybe they'll cut it back right yeah their own budget yeah maybe that's something you think about doing right you have different budget plans right yeah what are you looking for I'm sure you ask these questions you're pretty sharp in your industry what's your budget yes yes yes that's I do I'll have like different packages for different people um and yeah I mean sometimes I find myself being a little picky too like when I I hit 20 weddings for this year. And then I was like, all right, well, I can only take on like maybe like I took on six more. But I was like, I don't really want to go over 30. So I'm not like dying over here. So that was really picky. And like I would get inquiries. And if it was at the venue where I know I'm shooting like four times this year, I'm like, I don't really want to do that. So like, yeah, then I might not include my lowest package because I'm like, I will only take this if they really, really, really love me and will pay for the top package. Yeah, but that's smart because you're almost maxing out your time. And I agree. I'm only going to do this if I make this amount of money. It's just you're at the point in your year that it's not worth it for you. Yeah. And I'm like, I don't want to sound greedy when I say that. Yeah, if I don't need it, then I don't need it. And like, but if you're going to pay me that, then OK, I'll do it. I'll think about it. Right. And that's fair. I always say, Alexa, don't ask me to apologize because I'm in business to make money. So don't ask me to apologize because I made money on a job. That's why I'm in business. Yeah. Yeah. And that's an important trait to have because like it's so hard sometimes, especially when you're alone in business and, you know, to not separate personal and business. And especially when you start to work with like, you know, maybe like friends or family. Yeah. It's like, OK, well, now we have a few lines here to like blur and I don't know. It gets tricky, but you just have to be strong. And I just kind of have two hats. I'm like, all right, this is my personal hat. This is my professional hat. Well, yeah, and you're right. You nailed it. Don't leave your emotions out of it. It's a business. You can't, I mean, you can only feel sorry and do this for so much because it's your business. That's how you make a living. It's how you pay your bills. And don't feel sorry. Don't feel bad about that, girl. I'm telling you that right now. Because it is. And as you get, you know, when you get 15, 20 years under your belt, you're going to be like, nah i know i don't care yeah that's great you're gonna be like no i don't want to do that right right no i think that's a good oh you know like you said oh you know what i have three weddings already i know that day's no longer available you can refer somebody you know yeah yeah but you got look my industry's tough with referrals you gotta really yeah i always say i'm never going to refer anybody again they could do great work for 20 years and the time you refer them they they just destroy everything and it's like i'm never doing it again i'm not yeah i'm not referring anybody because i don't know you just don't know people's mindsets at the time that they're going to do the job you know you don't know if this guy's fighting with his wife or not showing up or i don't know you know there's so many variables in people's lives that can change the finished product when you refer them and I swear all the time I'm not going to do it anymore. So I usually stick to referrals that I oversee. No, that's smart. Yeah. So if I'm going to refer somebody, I'm going to make sure I'm going to be on site anyway and I can watch the quality. Yeah, I know because they're still thinking of you too, like even with that referral. Like, yeah. Yeah, you just don't know. So is there any, I like to ask all my guests, is there any advice for anybody in the industry or young kids wanting to start a business? What's your advice? Hard work, right? I know. It's hard work. I just say to know, you know, don't give up and know that you're going to be constantly learning. Like I'm still teaching myself stuff every day. what's the trends that come and go and how the world evolves like you think you know everything and then it changes and you have to just adapt um so i think if you're yeah mindset of of wanting to start a business and you already have that like fire under your belt and um then you're going to be okay just sometimes it's good to like you know balance uh balance like the inspiration with with reality and you know know like you know have those dreams but also just I don't know put your head down and work sometimes just don't know that's actually good advice yeah oh thank you inspiration and reality because a lot of people start and they think of all the, you know, there's so much stuff on the internet. So I get rose-colored glasses, but you're right. You need to just stay grounded and balance it with reality and have real goals. Right. Right. Have real goals, know your industry, and know where you want to wind up and the reality of where you want to wind up. Obviously, you know, it's nice if it goes beyond that, right? Right. What did I say? Right. Don't expect too much in life and you'll never be disappointed. Yeah. No, absolutely. You don't want to be disappointed. No, I know. That's great. And I always ask my last question is how do you define legacy outside of money? Oh, photography. Photography. So that's what I think you were going to say. Your legacy is giving people memories. yeah i totally believe that because i mean i myself like i love looking back at my parents photos when they were little or like their wedding album is so so interesting to me and um i i always tell my clients that too is like this is you know photos are are um what's the word timeless yeah like i mean they they grow in value over time like when your kids when you're old and god and your kids old that's all they have like that's gonna be when it's so meaningful so i think that's another reason maybe wedding photography does have this expensive connotation to it is because there's so much value there there is over time yeah i mean you're capturing emotional moments and i think it's so important and you do very well my friend thank you so much i appreciate it Anybody listening, you need to go. How can they find you, Alexa? You have a website, right? Yes, I have. My website is alexalynphoto.com. And I'm on Instagram a lot, which is alexa.lyn.photo. Those are my two main ones. I'm on Facebook, too. And I'm trying to get on TikTok, but we'll see how far that goes. Yeah, TikTok's a little weird. I mean, they just added it for me, and I'm like, I don't know. It's real quick. It's like they're telling me all these stats and it's got to be less than 10 seconds. And yes, it's really more for. I don't know. I don't know. Is it more for younger kids? I don't know. I think so. But it's hard to grow your business in 10 seconds. Yeah. Yeah. That's something we'll see what happens with. Yeah. I mean, those are good for like blurbs and stuff like that. You know, flashes of work and stuff. I don't know. I let people do that. Like you spoke about earlier. Right. You gotta let other people do their job. I just can't, I can't do everything. And you're gonna let that. Yeah, you can't. You gotta let people do that. Well, I appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much for having me. This is fun. I hope. Yeah, it was fun. I wanna say, I hope you get a lot more work this year, but I think you're kind of booked out. Are you booking for 27? You must be. Yeah, we're looking into 2027 now. So we'll focus on that. Do they book two years out? 28? No. No, I don't even do that for her because I don't know where I'm going to be in 2028. That's actually smart. Yeah. Because then you got to go back. If you're pregnant, who knows? I know. And you got to go back and change everything. You're smart. You can keep it within a narrow window and then you don't have to do double work. Yes. Yeah. I'll try. But anyway, I appreciate coming on. I know it's been a while. I'm going to hook up with you again. We're going to do another photo shoot. This time we got to have the fan blow in my hair. Yes. No. I was laughing. I have to go on a photo shoot. They were great. They were great. It's fun. Whatever. You got to take life with a grain of salt. Whatever. And I'm my biggest, like you had a client like me. I'm my worst enemy. Like, you know this. But especially as you get older. you can see every wrinkle this that it's like you learn whatever it's over come to terms with that you're still beautiful don't worry oh you're so sweet but i want you to hang on i want to talk to you afterwards i'm going to sign off thank you again everybody out there you got to use alexa her work is amazing it really is check out her website it's amazing stay tuned next week when i'm going to have on another uh successful entrepreneur to tell their story about how they got where they are. And in the meantime, remember, if I could do it, so can you. I'm just a girl from Jersey. We'll see you next week.