February 12, 2024 • 39 mins
In this episode, I share my personal journey from veterinarian dreams, to professional equine photographer. I share my story in detail, including the challenges of starting a business, embracing a niche that my heart wasn't into, to ultimately doing what makes my heart go pitter-patter and nurtures my core.
Join me as I recount how an internship led to a profound career shift and chance encounters shaped my path. From establishing a brand to crazy, ambitious goals, this story celebrates finding joy in work and making bold choices that resonate with the soul.
Discover the importance of perseverance, inspired by my mother's resilience, and the pursuit of a passion that ignites the heart. Tune in to sprinkle some magic into your own business pursuits and join our community on social media and our free Facebook group for continued sharing, learning, and growth.
Read Pepper's story here.
Pre-Order The Unicorn
Connect with Karinda!
- Ready to Sell More Wall Art? Join us in Your Magic Year to Sell More Wall Art
- Website
- Photography Business Tune-Up with Karinda K. - Free Facebook Group
- IG @Masteryourmindmoney
Thanks for listening!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Mindset and Money Mastery for
Photographers the podcast.
We help overwhelmedphotographers make more money
while simplifying their businessby mastering their you guessed
it mindset and money.
Tune in each week for practicaland actionable tips to take
your photography business up anotch.
Let's dive right in.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hey guys, today I'm going to be sharing a little bit
about my story and my journeythat has gotten me to where I'm
at today in my business.
Being in Kentucky for Imagingbrought back so many memories,
because my equine photographybrand was actually born while I
was visiting Kentucky.
So I decided I'm going to takeyou back on my journey of
(00:44):
building my business and tellyou a little bit more about how
I got started, how I ended upwhere I am today, because
there's a lot of new listenerson here from Imaging and I
figured it'd be fun to justshare a little bit more about
myself, my own journey, andmaybe you'll learn a few things
along the way.
So my journey to building yourphotography business started my
(01:05):
senior year of college.
I actually have an animalscience degree and I was in
college at Texas A&M and I gotto my last semester and I
thought what am I going to dowith my life?
I have this animal sciencedegree.
I actually wanted to go to vetschool when I started college.
However, I was on the horsejudging team in college, which
meant I traveled a lot and Imissed a lot of school, and
(01:26):
taking nearly every organicchemistry test in your
professor's office is not agreat way to end up making a
great, great and hard-ganttchemistry, and I very quickly
realized that maybe I wasn'tgoing to go to vet school.
So the choices were go back andget my master's degree or
figure out what to do with mylife and honestly, I kind of
(01:47):
always knew that I wanted to ownmy own business.
Growing up I watched my dad runhis own business and I'd always
thought like I want to dosomething where I can be my own
boss.
I had interned for a livestockphotography company called Show
Champions.
They're based out of Canada andthey photograph a lot of the
major livestock photographyshows all over the world and I
(02:07):
had interned for them myfreshman year of college with
zero intention or thinking thatI would ever be a photographer,
and my job was helping deposeanimals and to also write down
image numbers on cards and tohelp people check out with their
ordering station, and really Idid that.
No thought of ever being aphotographer, I didn't even
(02:29):
cross my mind While my lastsemester of college I was
working as a working student ata barn Shout out to Windenall
Farm in Magnolia, texas, andFran Deering now Frank her she
had actually said, said whydon't you come work for me and
be my working student?
And I was like no way.
That's crazy.
(02:49):
I had always looked up to hergrowing up and so getting the
chance to go work for her incollege was a huge deal.
She's a phenomenal trainer andshe's also a judge.
If you are involved in thehorse for the research world,
you've probably crossed pathswith Fran and you know how
amazing she is.
When I was working at the barn,I had some free time and I
happened to have a camerasitting around in my mom's room
(03:13):
and I won't bore you withdetails of that.
But I got that camera and Iwent to the barn and started
taking pictures and I had freetime while I was waiting for
another next horse to tack up orto do something with.
So I just started photographingpeople riding their horses and
I would sit there and I wouldplay with the camera settings.
I did not learn anythingprofessionally there, I just sat
(03:34):
and played.
Then I was like, huh, maybe Icould do this.
This is cool, I enjoy takingphotos.
That was pretty much it.
My sister got married and shehad a photographer.
I don't really know what thesituation was, but I took my
camera and took some pictures ofher wedding too.
I photographed my first weddingkind of not really.
(03:54):
I was just the sister with anannoying camera.
It was a very small wedding.
I wasn't really doing anythingto get the photographer's way
although now I know much betterguys, so don't come at me Along
the way of me photographinghorses at the barn, sharing some
images on social media.
The owner of Show Championactually contacted me and he
asked if I wanted to come workfor them and I was like well, I
(04:15):
have nothing else to do.
He said we'll train you.
I have an old camera body, Ican tell you, and some lenses so
that you have the rightequipment.
And off I went.
I remember driving to the StateFair of Texas to go pick up a
new camera body from him and Iwas going to go work for them
and that's what I was going todo for a bit.
It wasn't a full-time thing, itwas just here and there when
they needed an extraphotographer.
(04:37):
About that same time, I thinktwo or three weeks before then,
I was contacted by someone thatran a wedding venue that my
husband actually worked at inhigh school.
All this story is very wild anda little bit twisty, so just
follow me here.
So Austin had worked at awedding venue in high school and
in college a little bit, and heworked in the back like helping
set up wash dishes, get foodready, do all this stuff.
(04:59):
The ladies that ran the venue.
They reached out to me and saidwe have someone getting married
and she's not going to hire aphotographer.
We know you are just gettingstarted.
We saw the pictures you took atyour sister's wedding.
We've been seeing all the horsepictures you've been taking.
You should come photograph fora wedding.
I was like what?
I can't photograph a wedding, Idon't know what I'm doing.
And they were like it's fine,you don't need to know what
(05:21):
you're doing.
We know exactly what thephotographers do at every
wedding.
We will take you around and wewill teach you as we go.
So all of this is happening atthe same time Starting to work
for the livestock photographycompany, getting a new camera
and also saying like, hey, youphotographed this wedding.
I think I photographed thatwedding in October.
Then, right after, I went tothe state fair and worked at the
state fair and photographed myfirst livestock show under show
(05:44):
champions.
It was right around the sametime.
One might have been before theother.
I essentially knew that Ineeded to be prepared for this
wedding and I watched everycreative life that there was
about wedding photography a lotof Jasmine Star that's, who was
big back then and teaching a lotin weddings and I learned a lot
about shooting weddings fromJasmine Star and some other
(06:05):
photographers that were oncreative lives back then.
This was all in 2012,.
I think yeah, it had been 2012.
So that is how it got startedwith photography and I said,
well, I guess I'm going to starta business now that I'm
photographing weddings.
So there I went.
I started my own Facebook pageand I got a website I think it
(06:27):
was through Zinfolio at the timeand I was a photographer For me
.
I saw photography as a way tomake money when I got out of
college, because I needed tofigure out what I was going to
do with my life and I thought Icould build a business doing
this.
I could make money doing this.
I think Little did.
I know it would take quite awhile to get there, but look at
(06:47):
me now.
So that's how I got started.
I ended up becoming a weddingphotographer and photographing a
lot of weddings after that.
I am so incredibly grateful tothe amazing people at the
wedding venue that showed me theropes at my first wedding,
because they literally took mearound and said the photographer
stands here and the moose hereand does this and does this and
(07:08):
that.
With all the creative lives Ihad watched, I was like I got
this.
It wasn't too shabby for myfirst wedding.
You know.
I'm so grateful that I was ableto be there.
And over the next two years Iphotographed more and more
weddings and I was doing seniorsand I was doing kind of
everything.
I was not doing newborns untilI guess I was in my second year
(07:29):
of business.
I ended up hiring a businesscoach.
Her name was Erin Phillips.
I'm forever grateful for herand Erin was a newborn
photographer and a lot of hercoaching clients were newborn
photographers.
My timeline might be way off,guys.
I joined her coaching programand soon enough I had become a
newborn photographer too.
Before I knew it, hangingaround a bunch of newborn
(07:51):
photographers, I wasphotographing babies and I
photographed babies in weddingsfor, I think, a solid five years
.
Then I had kind of becomereally well known for what I did
with my weddings and my babies.
We built a newborn photographystudio on our property.
I was freshly out of college hewas still in college trying to
(08:12):
finish his degree while workingand we had bought property.
We were living in a fifth wheelcamper just trying to figure
out how to do life and we gotmarried in 2013.
So he was like you know what?
I'm going to support you.
Whatever you need to do, justgo for it.
And I kind of just took theleap and did the thing and we
lived very minimally.
We were big believers and wentthrough the whole Dave Ramsey
(08:35):
thing and we were paying off allof our debt.
Because we went into debt toget married and we didn't have a
whole lot of stuff.
We really just scraped by.
We pretty much budgeted ourmoney and survived.
But we did it and we did it onour own and we lived a simple
life and it was amazing and itwas crazy.
But we built the newbornphotography studio because
(08:58):
ultimately, my newbornphotography stuff and my
business stuff was taking overour camper.
There was only so much space inthe camper.
My husband also traveled forwork a lot, so sometimes he
would take off and go work inother places, but that's a whole
other story.
I need to tell you all thatstory another day.
So we built the new wordphotography studio.
Before long, I had built twoseparate photography brands.
(09:19):
I was running a weddingphotography brand and a newborn
photography brand, because I wasunder the impression that if
you wanted somebody to believethat you were the best at what
you did, you need to specializein that which.
There is some truth to that,but also I will tell you that
now, going through it, I wouldavoid creating multiple brands
in your photography business.
Instead, I would look forthings that are commonalities or
(09:39):
common threads or commonbeliefs and values between your
clients, even if they'redifferent, and speak to those
things, because then you willattract all of the clients in a
way that feels good, withoutrunning two separate brands and
two separate websites and twoseparate social medias.
That was a lot of work.
I was really well known for thewedding thing.
I was very well known fornewborns.
I had inquiries coming in, itwas easy peasy and I was doing a
(10:03):
good job running my business.
My sales were not nearly whatthey are now, though.
I think at the end of mywedding days I had a wedding, a
bride that spent over $10,000.
That was in my last year ofphotographing weddings.
I had a really large weddingand I was like I could keep
doing this if every bride ispaying me $10,000.
But it was a lot of work.
If you buy our book, theUnicorn, you'll hear my story
about this.
(10:24):
I really dreaded wedding days.
I dreaded the process ofgetting ready and I would sit
there and worry and worry andworry about all the potential
things that could go wrong.
How many of you all have thenightmares before your sessions
or your weddings?
Yeah, that was me.
I would literally havenightmares about all the
potential things that could gowrong, but I loved my brides and
as soon as I got to the wedding, all that went away and it was
(10:45):
amazing and beautiful and I justloved and adored my brides.
They were my family.
They still are.
I love watching their babiesgrow up.
Y'all get it.
If you photograph weddings,it's really cool.
But I dig it to a place where itwas really hard for me.
I love photographing babies,but I did just feel like
something was missing in mybusiness, like there was
something there that I shouldhave been doing, because
(11:07):
obviously I started outphotographing horses.
But I did what you're supposedto do, which is photograph
weddings and babies, and I didthe thing and I was doing what
everyone else did and whateveryone told me I should do to
be a photographer Until I made atrip to Kentucky.
I went to Kentucky for a horsephotography workshop thing and I
(11:28):
rented a car and I remember Iwent a couple days early and I
just drove and drove and drovelike all day long through back
roads in Kentucky and just droveand looked at all the farms and
all the horses and just reallyfell in love with Kentucky and
really thought to myself, likewhat am I doing?
I went to the first day of theequine photography workshop and
(11:50):
I went back to my hotel roomthat night and I said I'm going
to be a horse photographer.
What have I been doing with mylife?
Horse photographer it is.
I stayed up that night and Ibuilt an entire equine
photography brand.
I took my wedding photographylogo, which was beautiful and I
loved I had like an alternatelogo.
It was kind of like a wreaththing that kind of looked like a
horseshoe, and I made that myequine photography logo.
(12:12):
I built an entire website andone night because I'm a crazy
person and I also made a taglineCiao our blog, their Story.
I decided I was gonna sharehorses stories.
It was something that I hadn'theard of anyone doing and I
didn't think anyone was doing it, and I thought to myself their
(12:34):
stories deserve to be told, justlike people's stories deserve
to be told, but all too often wedon't get to tell our horses
stories.
So I made this brand.
That same night I also decidedand declared that I was gonna
photograph 365 horses that nextyear, because I quickly realized
that from photographing babiesin weddings that in order to do
(12:55):
something and be really good atit, it took a lot of practice.
And you know, when I wasphotographing weddings and I was
only doing like 15 weddings ayear, I really only loved doing
one wedding a month.
That was kind of my sweet spotOne, maybe two some months.
But I loved having just onebride a month because she got
all my attention and then myportrait clients peppered in
there as well.
But it took a long time to getreally good at what I was doing,
(13:18):
because I was doing such asmall number of weddings and
what I realized was that if Iwanted to get really good at
doing something, I would have todo it a lot.
So 365 horses in a year, whynot?
That sounded like a great idea.
And the next day I went to thesecond day of the workshop, I
think and I was like, guess whatguys?
(13:39):
I built an equine photographybrand.
I'm an equine photographer.
Now here's what I'm doing.
And it's so funny because, atImaging, one of the ladies that
was there at that workshop hername was Becky Becky came up to
me and she goes Karinda, Iremember being at that workshop
with you when you decided youwere gonna be a horse
photographer and I was like Iknow, crazy, right.
And she was like it has been socool getting to watch you on
(14:02):
this journey, like it's been socrazy and cool and just seeing
the things you've done sincethen.
And it was really cool to hearthat.
And part of the reason Idecided to record this episode
was to share with y'all how Ibecame a horse photographer and
how I got to where I am today.
Becky really reminded me ofthat, but being in Kentucky also
really reminded me of that.
So did this workshop?
(14:23):
I don't know how many days, itwas a few days and the next
thing I was gonna do was startbuilding my clientele.
So what did I do?
I found a client someone I wasconnected with on Facebook,
built in Kentucky, and I reachedout to them and said, hey, I'm
in Kentucky, I'm a horsephotographer.
Can I come photograph yourhorses?
We had mutual connections so Iknew they weren't gonna
hopefully murder me or anything,went into their farm, met them
(14:46):
and I declared to this stranger,like a crazy person, I'm gonna
photograph 365 horses this yearand I'm gonna share all their
stories on my blog.
And I read this lady justlooked at me and was like, oh
cool, and here I was just doingsomething wild and crazy off the
cuff, like no thought processreally went into it, no, real,
(15:07):
like what ifs?
It was the true definition ofjust deciding.
I was gonna do it and do it.
And the reason that I wanted totell you this story is because
in your business, I wannaencourage you in your business,
to just do the thing, to knowthat done is better than perfect
and to know that if you sitaround on an idea and wait long
(15:28):
enough, it will never make itout into the world.
And what you do and yourpurpose on this earth should be
shared.
It should be put out there topeople, but all too often we let
the fear and the worry and theanxiety stop us from putting it
out there because we don't thinkit's good enough or done enough
or perfect enough.
If I would have done that, Iwould have never launched my
(15:52):
equine photography brand.
But I did it, and I did itscared and I did it blindly and
I did it without having any ideaof what was actually gonna come
of it.
But I trusted and I put it outthere and I shared it boldly and
loudly for the world to hearand the world to see.
And over the next year Iphotographed 365 horses.
(16:14):
Now I started before the yearbegan because I was smart enough
to know that I wasn't gonnastart the year not having
photographed any horses.
I started.
I don't know what month Istarted, but I started
photographing horses before theyear started and by January I
had already photographed 60horses and every single day I
was sharing a post about thehorse, sharing their story on my
(16:36):
blog and putting my work outthere.
It was such a wild journey,guys.
I think my business coach atthe time told me that I was
crazy.
My business coach told me therewas no way I could do image
reveals and IPS for every singleclient I photographed and I
said guess what I'm going to?
Because I took her advice inthe beginning and I did online
(16:57):
galleries, even though I hadreally never done online
galleries my whole business.
I started out doing sales IPSfrom the early days and I did a
fierce set of horses in anonline gallery and I thought
this is stupid.
I'm not making any money,nobody's buying anything.
I'm doing IPS for 365 horsesand I did.
And I learned so much, not onlyas a photographer.
(17:18):
I learned how to coach myclients through holding and
handling their horses.
I learned how to do in-personsales.
That's the same year that Istarted doing in-person sales,
virtually because most of myclients were not local to me.
I traveled all over the US for365 days of horses, so most of
my clients were not local to me.
It was really just such a cooljourney and such a cool
(17:40):
experience.
The reason behind that was toget really good at photographing
horses.
It was to build a following, tobuild an audience, to grow my
email list.
It was really a marketing thing.
But the other piece of it wasto make money and to sell and I
did all of those things I did somuch more than I could have
(18:03):
imagined.
That year I set out onInstagram that I was gonna grow
by a thousand followers a monthon Instagram, which was crazy.
But we did.
We grew by nearly a thousandfollowers every single month of
our 365 days of worst project.
Now I will admit Instagram backthen was a lot easier than
Instagram now.
Instagram now is temperamentaland like an angry old man that
(18:28):
doesn't like me anymore.
But back in the day Instagramwas happy and friendly and loved
people.
I would say it's not that greatanymore.
So don't take that thousandfollowers a month thing and be
like I'm gonna get a thousandfollowers a month, because
that's a little bit harder intoday's day and age.
But really it was such a coolexperience and it really built
what I have today in my business.
(18:50):
It really laid the foundationand it's what I'm very well
known for in my portraitbusiness to this day.
And after that first year of 365days of horses, I closed down
my wedding business.
I stopped taking weddings, Istopped taking babies and I said
I'm doing this full force.
For that year, when I was doing365 days of horses, I was
running three separate websites,three separate social media
(19:13):
channels, one for each of mybrands, and it was hard.
It was so hard.
So if you ever come to me andsay, should I separate brands or
should I keep them together,I'm probably gonna tell you to
keep them together because,trust me, you don't want to end
up running three separate brands.
It isn't super fun, but thereally cool thing about
launching my equine brand wasnot only the project that I did,
(19:34):
but also I got to build abusiness fresh from scratch and
not make the same mistakes andthe same road bumps along the
way.
I got to set my pricing whereit needed to be.
I got to do all those thingsfrom the get go, which made my
growth easier because I wasn'tconstantly redoing and reworking
the system.
I had a system that worked andall I was doing at that point
(19:56):
was then tweaking the system, soit was a really cool experience
.
I want to add a side note righthere, because you're going to
hear this and you're going to belike that sounds amazing.
I'm going to go photograph 365sessions.
I'm going to encourage you togo do big, crazy things, but do
them smartly.
I wasn't photographing asession every single day.
(20:16):
I was sometimes photographing15 to 20 sessions in a day and
the sessions were quick andshort 15 to 30 minute sessions
in one location.
I wasn't traveling to 365different locations to do this.
It was a very strategic waythat it was done.
So if you decide to do a big,crazy project, like I did, find
(20:38):
something that feeds your heartand soul, be unique to you.
Don't just do something becauseyou're like that sounds cool.
Make it your own, build it in away it's not going to burn you
out.
I will say I do a lot of crazythings that my business coaches
told me I'm crazy for doing, andI will admit that sometimes I
tell my coaching clients becareful, you might get a little
burnt out doing that, becauseit's kind of big and crazy, but
(20:59):
I've done it myself.
So I can't really speak forthat, because I am the person
that does big, crazy and samethings in my business and I
don't always think them throughand I don't always do them
perfectly, but I do them when Iset my mind to them.
Don't be afraid to do big,crazy things, but also do it
with caution and do it in asmart way.
Do it in a way that makes youmoney.
(21:21):
Do it in a way that feeds yoursoul and feed your business.
It isn't going to burn you out,because there is always that
that happens and I've seen ithappen time and time again when
people have tried to dosomething similar, as they've
got to that burnt out place butat the same time, it was so cool
to do and it was such a greatexperience.
And so if y'all are wonderingand you've tried to look me up
(21:42):
on social media what's currentis portrait business on
Instagram it's actually 365 daysof horses, so, funny enough,
that is a bit of a weird thingthat sometimes there's a bit of
a brand disconnect and if youever hear me talk about branding
and business names and all thisstuff, I always recommend
Sigeen with your name, because alot of people follow 365 days
of horses and are very familiarwith the account, but sometimes
(22:05):
they don't have the brandrecognition of that's Corinda
because the name is differentand, honestly, it was so well
known that I've been told by alot of my personal mentors that
I need to change the Instagramaccount name.
But it is such a big part of meand my story and my journey
that I love having it aroundbecause it's great to share,
like.
Here's why my Instagram iscalled 365 days of horses, and
(22:25):
we're actually bringing it backat the moment in my portrait
business and another variationwhere we're photographing 365
horses for charity.
So it is kind of coming backinto my business and I'm trying
to bring it back in and bring itfull circle not necessarily in
a year this time, because I havea lot of other things going on
too in my business, so I don'tknow that that would happen in a
year.
But who knows, we did 210,220ish horses last year, I think
(22:51):
.
So not too far from 365 again,but a little bit different.
The thing is is that if Iwouldn't have done the big scary
thing, if I wouldn't have justjumped in blindly, if I wouldn't
have just acted when it feltright, it would have never
happened.
And also, if I would have justlistened to what I wanted to do
in the early years of mybusiness, which was
(23:13):
photographing horses and animals, because that's what I loved, I
like to wonder, like, whatthings would have been like if I
would have started that brandfrom day one.
How would things have beendifferent if I was an equine
photographer from day one?
Don't get me wrong.
I'm incredibly grateful for myexperience as a wedding
photographer.
I learned so much.
I compose like nobody'sbusiness and under pressure and
(23:37):
10 minutes bust out a wholegiant gallery of portraits with
a couple.
I can do so many amazingbeautiful lighting things and I
can work under pressure.
Because I photographed weddings, I can manage people, a whole
herd of people, because Iphotographed weddings, because I
photographed newborns, Ilearned patience and how to be
calm in situations when yourperson that you're photographing
(24:01):
or your animal that you'rephotographing does not cooperate
.
You have to learn how to becalm and just clear your brain
and just let it go, becausebabies can feed off of you and
so can animals.
There were things I learned,but I do also wonder what if I
would have just done what Iwanted to do from the beginning
and not listen to what the worldtold me I should be doing,
which is weddings and babies andfamilies and all of those
(24:23):
things?
Right, I'm going to challengeyou with this Do what you want
to do in your business, do whatfeels good to your heart and
soul, don't just do whateveryone else is doing.
I think this last week atImaging, I talked to so many
photographers that were doingheadshots and personal branding
type things.
And I asked them I said is thiswhat you really want to be
doing?
Like, does this feed your heartand soul?
(24:44):
And they were, like no, but itpays the bills.
And I stopped so manyphotographers that said that to
me and I said don't do the thingthat just feels like it pays
the bills.
Find a way to make money doingthe thing you love.
And I was talking to a super,super freaking talented
(25:06):
photographer months ago and thatwas something she said to me.
She said I was told that mystyle was never going to pay the
bills, that I was never goingto make money doing this, that
it was too different, that itwas too weird.
But look at me now, and so whatI really want you to think
about is are you building thebusiness that you love and that
is what you want to be doing, oryou're just doing the thing
(25:28):
because it's what you'resupposed to do as a photographer
?
And the other thing I want toremind you is do the big scary
thing.
Jump off the cliff when youaren't ready.
Just do it, because the resultsand the things that come from
it are so amazing.
When I did my 365 days of horsesproject.
People had to apply to be apart of the project and they had
to submit their stories becauseI wanted to share powerful
(25:50):
stories.
I can remember this like it wasyesterday.
I remember the applicationspouring in and every application
that come in I would be soexcited to read it and decide
whether it was, you know, a goodfit for the project or not, or
you know what it was.
And I remember sitting in thecamper at the kitchen table,
which was my desk, and Iremember my husband was in the
(26:12):
shower and it was evening timeand he was getting ready for bed
and I just popped on mycomputer because I had a bunch
of applications come in and Iremember opening up this
application and reading thisapplication and I remember
sitting there and crying,literally reading the story and
crying.
And if you want to read thestory, just go search my name,
carinda K Pepper, kentucky, andyou'll find this horse's blog.
(26:34):
And I remember reading thestory about this horse and it
brought tears to my eyes.
And I remember Austin gettingout of the shower and he was
like what's wrong with you?
You know, I really think greatCarinda's cried on to your
podcast now, but it was a storyabout this horse that had
essentially been this man's safespace while he was going
(26:56):
through cancer treatment and heeventually did pass away, and it
was a story about his horse.
And, oh man, for some reasonthat story stands out to me more
than anything else.
I did it in that project.
That horse stands out to memore than any other horse I
photographed in that project andwhen you go look at the blog
(27:17):
and you read the story and youfind the photos of Pepper she's
this chestnut mare You'll knowwhy, right, and I think it was
at that moment that I reallyrealized this is what I'm
supposed to be doing with myportrait business.
There is something soincredibly powerful and valuable
and magical with horses and theway they heal us and take care
(27:39):
of us and nurture us.
These are the stories I'msupposed to be sharing.
I knew that I had to go toKentucky and I had to photograph
that horse and I did.
It was truly amazing and it wasa very small.
Obviously there were a lot ofhorses that I photographed, a
lot of people, a lot of horses Imet that year, and there's many
of them that pop into my brainthat stand out to me, but that
one was just the moment that Iwas like this project is what
(28:02):
I'm supposed to be doing, and itwas so powerful and it was so
amazing.
Y'all I'm just prefaced this Ify'all go back and look at those
pictures Pepper's pictures areamazing, but not all those
pictures are amazing.
I was learning, but it was sucha cool journey and it was such
a cool experience and I reallyrealized that that's what I was
supposed to be doing.
Those were the people I wassupposed to be serving.
(28:23):
Those are the stories I wasborn to be telling with my
portraits, with my blog, with myplatform.
If thinking about what you'redoing in your business doesn't
excite you like that, it doesn'tmake you feel that passionately
Like I feel about this, thenthat's your sign to look at this
and reevaluate it.
I have a couple of podcastepisodes.
We also talk about it in ourbook, the Unicorn Finding your
(28:45):
why.
The thing that makes your heartgo pitter-patter is so
important in building yourbusiness around.
That, from the types ofsessions you photograph, the way
you talk to your clients, theway you pose them, the way you
guide them, the way you directthem, the products you offer,
everything in your businessshould be shaped by your why and
when your business is shapedaround that, you're going to
(29:05):
attract those people that makeyour heart go pitter-patter and
that make you fall in love withyour business each and every day
when you work with them, andthat is valuable and that is
important, guys.
So I just want to remind youthat.
I hope that hearing my story hasbeen good and inspiring.
You know, when I was talkingabout the early days of our
journey, I was first out ofcollege.
(29:27):
My husband was building hiscareer and trying to finish
college while working full-timeand going to school online.
We had nothing.
We had nothing.
We lived in a camper.
We bought four acres that weown, our finance and we fought
and called our way to get towhere we are now, and I can
(29:48):
honestly say there were a lot ofyears in the beginning that I
didn't get to pay myself much,if nothing at all, and now my
business is finally at a placewhere I'm like whoa, this is
amazing.
My business has allowed me todo so many cool things, not only
in my life like we've been ableto buy a house, we've been able
to buy vehicles.
(30:08):
We just bought a big camper forthe business, because we travel
so much with the business anddo events and different things
and we needed somewhere to stay.
All of these things that I'mable to just go do because of my
portrait business and becauseof this, and I want to encourage
you that if I can do this,y'all can do this too.
Like I'm a hot mess sometimesy'all.
(30:30):
I had a client phone call todayand my three-year-old was home
with me and he was being aturkey and he was running off
and screaming and I had to tellmy client hang on.
Because I had to run and chasehim and slide him out of my
husband's office because myhusband left a work call and my
office is not perfectly cleanand my desk is messy and you
know what?
(30:50):
I'm pretty sure I have ADHD andprobably all of y'all agree,
and I'm really an introvert.
I'm feeling sometimes exhaustme.
But if I can do this, y'all cando this too.
But you're going to have to doit.
You're going to have to do thescary thing.
You're going to have to diveinto things head first.
You're just going to have tojump off the cliff, even when
you're not sure, and sometimesyou're going to need someone to
(31:12):
kick you in the butt and jumpoff the cliff.
And if you ever need that, knowthat I'm here and I'm a
professional butt kicker and I'mgreat at pushing people off the
cliff to do the thing they needto do.
That's what my coaching clientsalways say.
They're like Karinda, we knowyou're going to kick us in the
butt and make us do the thing,but sometimes we all need it.
Sometimes, you know.
I think the funny part is Idon't think I ever had a
(31:32):
business coach that reallyencouraged me and do the scary
thing.
I think a lot of times mybusiness coach be careful about
this, be careful about that.
And I took their warning signsometimes and played it small
and then realized, screw theirwarning signs, I'm going to do
big things in my business.
So do the big things in yourbusiness.
Do what you love.
Do what makes your heart gopitter-patter, even when
(31:54):
somebody tells you it's notgoing to pay the bills, or even
if you're sitting there thinkingI don't know if it's going to
pay the bills.
Do it.
If I can do it, you can do ittoo.
Guys, nobody needs photographsof their horses.
They don't.
It's not a necessity, and youknow what.
I make a living doing it.
I make a great living doing itand my business has changed my
life and I want each and everyone of you to be able to
(32:16):
experience the same thing.
And also my business hasallowed me to pour into other
people.
My business has allowed me togive the half.
We wrote a check for like$15,000 and we still have
another $5,000 that we're goingto send to a charity from last
year.
Being able to donate that muchmoney to a charity, that's a lot
of money to be able to donate.
There was a day when I used todream and think, oh, would it be
(32:38):
cool if I could give back to acharity or start a scholarship
fund or do something cool likethat.
And I'm able to do that.
It's the same reason I'm here,able to record a podcast and pay
for it and just share thesethings with y'all and encourage
y'all and be in your ear andjust helping you along the way
in your business is because Imake money doing my portrait
(33:00):
thing.
I'm able to pour into y'all andto serve y'all and spend all
this time and energy writing abook to share with y'all all of
this wealth of knowledge that Ihave had to fight and claw and
just learn over the last.
I can't even keep track of howmany years 12 years now as a
business owner this podcast, mycoaching business, the book, all
(33:21):
these things I'm doing to helpphotographers is because I want
to help y'all succeed.
I want to see y'all grow and Iactually haven't ever really
shared my full story like this.
And recently I did a Facebooklive in my private Facebook
community for photographers it'scalled Photography Business 2.0
with Karina K, if you're not inthere, but I did like a live
video and I actually kind ofwalked around our property and I
(33:44):
told the story of where westarted, the things we've done,
kind of how we've gotten to ourrats today, and people were like
I am so glad you shared that,karina, because I think it's
important to remember that noteverybody just wakes up and has
things.
Some people have to work forthings and you know I was very
lucky to have a lot of amazingthings growing up.
But my parents went through areally terrible divorce and my
(34:08):
mom and I were kind of left tohung out and dry for my last
year of high school and we hadto survive and I watched my mom
fight and claw her way andseeing my mom do that, I think,
was a big piece of why I wasable to do this and build my
business.
My mom had been to stay at homemom for 30 years or something
(34:28):
when my dad filed for divorce.
My mom had a college degree thatwas not super great for getting
a job.
She had a home ec degree andshe went back to college when
she was how old was she 58?
And I watched my mom sit therenot knowing how to type and
(34:50):
literally peck the keyboard onher computer and type papers and
I watched her go to class with20 year olds and study and work
so hard to just give herself theeducation so she could go get a
good job and do things for us.
And it showed me likeperseverance If she could sit
(35:10):
there and pack out an essay forcollege with her pointer fingers
literally.
Whom I'd say I can't dosomething right?
Whom I'd say I can't dosomething when her whole life
was ripped off from underneathher?
Whom I'd say I can't doanything whenever I watched her
fight so hard and I had to fightjust as hard.
(35:31):
I had to fight to finish schooland hang on to the life I had
and go to college and do thethings and survive, and it
wasn't easy, but through that Ilearned so much and through that
I learned how to be determinedand how to fight for what I
wanted, and that has definitelycarried on in my business.
It hasn't always been easy andmy life has not always been what
(35:52):
it is today, but I fought foreverything, me and my husband
like.
We've built this from theground up and I say we because
he is my biggest cheerleader andhe is my biggest support and he
is doing the same thing in hislife and his career too.
But just know that, no matterwhere you're at, if you're ready
to fight and if you're willingto do the hard thing, and if
(36:14):
you're willing to jump off thecliff and do what you need to do
and do it scared and do itimperfect, you're going to get
there.
I love y'all.
I hope you've enjoyed hearingmy story.
I hope that it's allowed you tosee who I am, see a little bit
more of my heart.
I could really go on and on.
There's been so many crazy,incredible things on my journey
(36:35):
of where I could have ended upin life, but I know that this is
where I was meant to be and Iam so thankful that I ended up
here, even though on my journeyin life, if you would have told
me I would have been aphotographer, I would have told
you you were crazy.
Probably up to the month beforeI started my business, I would
have told you you were crazy.
But here I am and I'm doing it,and I'm here to show you that
(36:56):
anything is possible.
So go out there, fight for it,do the things, build your
business and, most importantly,as you're building your business
, take the time to learn and bea good student.
But don't just be a goodstudent.
Be a good implementer, becauseI don't want y'all to be
lifetime students.
I want y'all to be the peoplethat understand something, take
(37:20):
the knowledge and you implementit in a way that feels good to
you and your business, becausewithout that, you're going to
look back and you're going tosay how did I end up here?
That's not what I wanted, andI'm not happy and I don't want
you to be there.
Thanks y'all for listening tothis.
I love each and every one ofy'all.
I know y'all might hear me saythis.
I actually said this tosomebody at Imaging.
I said I love you so much,you're so amazing.
(37:42):
And they looked at me and werelike but you don't really know
me yet and I was like yes, I do.
Like we have talked for hours,that's just too much.
I just love people but I lovey'all.
Even if you've never met me, Ilove you too and I appreciate
you trusting me to listen to mystory and to follow my advice
and my guidance as you buildyour business.
I hope that you took somethingaway from this.
If you did, send us a DM, posta screenshot on social media and
(38:06):
share with us that you'relistening to the podcast and tag
us.
We don't really know who listensto the podcast unless you DMS
and tell us podcast statisticsand analytics are super weird,
so we really only know if y'allare listening, if y'all share
with us and DMS and let us know.
So let us know what you'reloving on the podcast.
Let us know what you want tohear more of this season.
If you haven't already grabbedour book, the Unicorn of
(38:26):
Business Books for Photographers, go grab the book.
It is so good.
If you're interested in joiningone of our coaching programs,
whether it's your magic gear orour Master your Mind and Money
coaching program you can apply.
Link is in our show notes oryou can apply at
masteryourmindmoneycom.
Forward slash apply.
I would love to talk to you,even if you're not sure if
you're ready to join a codingprogram or get help in your
(38:47):
business, just know that I'mhere for you.
Also, if you want to join ourfree Facebook group Photography
Business, tune up.
I love y'all.
It's been an amazing week and Ihope that this podcast brings
you a little bit more magic inyour business this year.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Thank you so much for listening.
If you enjoyed this episode andyou'd like to support the
podcast, please make sure youshare it on social media or
leave a rating and review.
As always, you can check outthe links and resources in the
show notes over atmasteryourmindmoneycom.
To catch all the latest from me, you can follow me on Instagram
at masteryourmindmoneycom, anddon't forget to join our free
(39:22):
Facebook group PhotographyBusiness.
Tune up with Corinne Decay.
Thanks again and I'll see younext time.
Welcome to Mindset and Money Mastery for
Photographers the podcast.
We help overwhelmedphotographers make more money
while simplifying their businessby mastering their you guessed
it mindset and money.
Tune in each week for practicaland actionable tips to take
your photography business up anotch.
Let's dive right in.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hey guys, today I'm going to be sharing a little bit
about my story and my journeythat has gotten me to where I'm
at today in my business.
Being in Kentucky for Imagingbrought back so many memories,
because my equine photographybrand was actually born while I
was visiting Kentucky.
So I decided I'm going to takeyou back on my journey of
(00:44):
building my business and tellyou a little bit more about how
I got started, how I ended upwhere I am today, because
there's a lot of new listenerson here from Imaging and I
figured it'd be fun to justshare a little bit more about
myself, my own journey, andmaybe you'll learn a few things
along the way.
So my journey to building yourphotography business started my
(01:05):
senior year of college.
I actually have an animalscience degree and I was in
college at Texas A&M and I gotto my last semester and I
thought what am I going to dowith my life?
I have this animal sciencedegree.
I actually wanted to go to vetschool when I started college.
However, I was on the horsejudging team in college, which
meant I traveled a lot and Imissed a lot of school, and
(01:26):
taking nearly every organicchemistry test in your
professor's office is not agreat way to end up making a
great, great and hard-ganttchemistry, and I very quickly
realized that maybe I wasn'tgoing to go to vet school.
So the choices were go back andget my master's degree or
figure out what to do with mylife and honestly, I kind of
(01:47):
always knew that I wanted to ownmy own business.
Growing up I watched my dad runhis own business and I'd always
thought like I want to dosomething where I can be my own
boss.
I had interned for a livestockphotography company called Show
Champions.
They're based out of Canada andthey photograph a lot of the
major livestock photographyshows all over the world and I
(02:07):
had interned for them myfreshman year of college with
zero intention or thinking thatI would ever be a photographer,
and my job was helping deposeanimals and to also write down
image numbers on cards and tohelp people check out with their
ordering station, and really Idid that.
No thought of ever being aphotographer, I didn't even
(02:29):
cross my mind While my lastsemester of college I was
working as a working student ata barn Shout out to Windenall
Farm in Magnolia, texas, andFran Deering now Frank her she
had actually said, said whydon't you come work for me and
be my working student?
And I was like no way.
That's crazy.
(02:49):
I had always looked up to hergrowing up and so getting the
chance to go work for her incollege was a huge deal.
She's a phenomenal trainer andshe's also a judge.
If you are involved in thehorse for the research world,
you've probably crossed pathswith Fran and you know how
amazing she is.
When I was working at the barn,I had some free time and I
happened to have a camerasitting around in my mom's room
(03:13):
and I won't bore you withdetails of that.
But I got that camera and Iwent to the barn and started
taking pictures and I had freetime while I was waiting for
another next horse to tack up orto do something with.
So I just started photographingpeople riding their horses and
I would sit there and I wouldplay with the camera settings.
I did not learn anythingprofessionally there, I just sat
(03:34):
and played.
Then I was like, huh, maybe Icould do this.
This is cool, I enjoy takingphotos.
That was pretty much it.
My sister got married and shehad a photographer.
I don't really know what thesituation was, but I took my
camera and took some pictures ofher wedding too.
I photographed my first weddingkind of not really.
(03:54):
I was just the sister with anannoying camera.
It was a very small wedding.
I wasn't really doing anythingto get the photographer's way
although now I know much betterguys, so don't come at me Along
the way of me photographinghorses at the barn, sharing some
images on social media.
The owner of Show Championactually contacted me and he
asked if I wanted to come workfor them and I was like well, I
(04:15):
have nothing else to do.
He said we'll train you.
I have an old camera body, Ican tell you, and some lenses so
that you have the rightequipment.
And off I went.
I remember driving to the StateFair of Texas to go pick up a
new camera body from him and Iwas going to go work for them
and that's what I was going todo for a bit.
It wasn't a full-time thing, itwas just here and there when
they needed an extraphotographer.
(04:37):
About that same time, I thinktwo or three weeks before then,
I was contacted by someone thatran a wedding venue that my
husband actually worked at inhigh school.
All this story is very wild anda little bit twisty, so just
follow me here.
So Austin had worked at awedding venue in high school and
in college a little bit, and heworked in the back like helping
set up wash dishes, get foodready, do all this stuff.
(04:59):
The ladies that ran the venue.
They reached out to me and saidwe have someone getting married
and she's not going to hire aphotographer.
We know you are just gettingstarted.
We saw the pictures you took atyour sister's wedding.
We've been seeing all the horsepictures you've been taking.
You should come photograph fora wedding.
I was like what?
I can't photograph a wedding, Idon't know what I'm doing.
And they were like it's fine,you don't need to know what
(05:21):
you're doing.
We know exactly what thephotographers do at every
wedding.
We will take you around and wewill teach you as we go.
So all of this is happening atthe same time Starting to work
for the livestock photographycompany, getting a new camera
and also saying like, hey, youphotographed this wedding.
I think I photographed thatwedding in October.
Then, right after, I went tothe state fair and worked at the
state fair and photographed myfirst livestock show under show
(05:44):
champions.
It was right around the sametime.
One might have been before theother.
I essentially knew that Ineeded to be prepared for this
wedding and I watched everycreative life that there was
about wedding photography a lotof Jasmine Star that's, who was
big back then and teaching a lotin weddings and I learned a lot
about shooting weddings fromJasmine Star and some other
(06:05):
photographers that were oncreative lives back then.
This was all in 2012,.
I think yeah, it had been 2012.
So that is how it got startedwith photography and I said,
well, I guess I'm going to starta business now that I'm
photographing weddings.
So there I went.
I started my own Facebook pageand I got a website I think it
(06:27):
was through Zinfolio at the timeand I was a photographer For me
.
I saw photography as a way tomake money when I got out of
college, because I needed tofigure out what I was going to
do with my life and I thought Icould build a business doing
this.
I could make money doing this.
I think Little did.
I know it would take quite awhile to get there, but look at
(06:47):
me now.
So that's how I got started.
I ended up becoming a weddingphotographer and photographing a
lot of weddings after that.
I am so incredibly grateful tothe amazing people at the
wedding venue that showed me theropes at my first wedding,
because they literally took mearound and said the photographer
stands here and the moose hereand does this and does this and
(07:08):
that.
With all the creative lives Ihad watched, I was like I got
this.
It wasn't too shabby for myfirst wedding.
You know.
I'm so grateful that I was ableto be there.
And over the next two years Iphotographed more and more
weddings and I was doing seniorsand I was doing kind of
everything.
I was not doing newborns untilI guess I was in my second year
(07:29):
of business.
I ended up hiring a businesscoach.
Her name was Erin Phillips.
I'm forever grateful for herand Erin was a newborn
photographer and a lot of hercoaching clients were newborn
photographers.
My timeline might be way off,guys.
I joined her coaching programand soon enough I had become a
newborn photographer too.
Before I knew it, hangingaround a bunch of newborn
(07:51):
photographers, I wasphotographing babies and I
photographed babies in weddingsfor, I think, a solid five years
.
Then I had kind of becomereally well known for what I did
with my weddings and my babies.
We built a newborn photographystudio on our property.
I was freshly out of college hewas still in college trying to
(08:12):
finish his degree while workingand we had bought property.
We were living in a fifth wheelcamper just trying to figure
out how to do life and we gotmarried in 2013.
So he was like you know what?
I'm going to support you.
Whatever you need to do, justgo for it.
And I kind of just took theleap and did the thing and we
lived very minimally.
We were big believers and wentthrough the whole Dave Ramsey
(08:35):
thing and we were paying off allof our debt.
Because we went into debt toget married and we didn't have a
whole lot of stuff.
We really just scraped by.
We pretty much budgeted ourmoney and survived.
But we did it and we did it onour own and we lived a simple
life and it was amazing and itwas crazy.
But we built the newbornphotography studio because
(08:58):
ultimately, my newbornphotography stuff and my
business stuff was taking overour camper.
There was only so much space inthe camper.
My husband also traveled forwork a lot, so sometimes he
would take off and go work inother places, but that's a whole
other story.
I need to tell you all thatstory another day.
So we built the new wordphotography studio.
Before long, I had built twoseparate photography brands.
(09:19):
I was running a weddingphotography brand and a newborn
photography brand, because I wasunder the impression that if
you wanted somebody to believethat you were the best at what
you did, you need to specializein that which.
There is some truth to that,but also I will tell you that
now, going through it, I wouldavoid creating multiple brands
in your photography business.
Instead, I would look forthings that are commonalities or
(09:39):
common threads or commonbeliefs and values between your
clients, even if they'redifferent, and speak to those
things, because then you willattract all of the clients in a
way that feels good, withoutrunning two separate brands and
two separate websites and twoseparate social medias.
That was a lot of work.
I was really well known for thewedding thing.
I was very well known fornewborns.
I had inquiries coming in, itwas easy peasy and I was doing a
(10:03):
good job running my business.
My sales were not nearly whatthey are now, though.
I think at the end of mywedding days I had a wedding, a
bride that spent over $10,000.
That was in my last year ofphotographing weddings.
I had a really large weddingand I was like I could keep
doing this if every bride ispaying me $10,000.
But it was a lot of work.
If you buy our book, theUnicorn, you'll hear my story
about this.
(10:24):
I really dreaded wedding days.
I dreaded the process ofgetting ready and I would sit
there and worry and worry andworry about all the potential
things that could go wrong.
How many of you all have thenightmares before your sessions
or your weddings?
Yeah, that was me.
I would literally havenightmares about all the
potential things that could gowrong, but I loved my brides and
as soon as I got to the wedding, all that went away and it was
(10:45):
amazing and beautiful and I justloved and adored my brides.
They were my family.
They still are.
I love watching their babiesgrow up.
Y'all get it.
If you photograph weddings,it's really cool.
But I dig it to a place where itwas really hard for me.
I love photographing babies,but I did just feel like
something was missing in mybusiness, like there was
something there that I shouldhave been doing, because
(11:07):
obviously I started outphotographing horses.
But I did what you're supposedto do, which is photograph
weddings and babies, and I didthe thing and I was doing what
everyone else did and whateveryone told me I should do to
be a photographer Until I made atrip to Kentucky.
I went to Kentucky for a horsephotography workshop thing and I
(11:28):
rented a car and I remember Iwent a couple days early and I
just drove and drove and drovelike all day long through back
roads in Kentucky and just droveand looked at all the farms and
all the horses and just reallyfell in love with Kentucky and
really thought to myself, likewhat am I doing?
I went to the first day of theequine photography workshop and
(11:50):
I went back to my hotel roomthat night and I said I'm going
to be a horse photographer.
What have I been doing with mylife?
Horse photographer it is.
I stayed up that night and Ibuilt an entire equine
photography brand.
I took my wedding photographylogo, which was beautiful and I
loved I had like an alternatelogo.
It was kind of like a wreaththing that kind of looked like a
horseshoe, and I made that myequine photography logo.
(12:12):
I built an entire website andone night because I'm a crazy
person and I also made a taglineCiao our blog, their Story.
I decided I was gonna sharehorses stories.
It was something that I hadn'theard of anyone doing and I
didn't think anyone was doing it, and I thought to myself their
(12:34):
stories deserve to be told, justlike people's stories deserve
to be told, but all too often wedon't get to tell our horses
stories.
So I made this brand.
That same night I also decidedand declared that I was gonna
photograph 365 horses that nextyear, because I quickly realized
that from photographing babiesin weddings that in order to do
(12:55):
something and be really good atit, it took a lot of practice.
And you know, when I wasphotographing weddings and I was
only doing like 15 weddings ayear, I really only loved doing
one wedding a month.
That was kind of my sweet spotOne, maybe two some months.
But I loved having just onebride a month because she got
all my attention and then myportrait clients peppered in
there as well.
But it took a long time to getreally good at what I was doing,
(13:18):
because I was doing such asmall number of weddings and
what I realized was that if Iwanted to get really good at
doing something, I would have todo it a lot.
So 365 horses in a year, whynot?
That sounded like a great idea.
And the next day I went to thesecond day of the workshop, I
think and I was like, guess whatguys?
(13:39):
I built an equine photographybrand.
I'm an equine photographer.
Now here's what I'm doing.
And it's so funny because, atImaging, one of the ladies that
was there at that workshop hername was Becky Becky came up to
me and she goes Karinda, Iremember being at that workshop
with you when you decided youwere gonna be a horse
photographer and I was like Iknow, crazy, right.
And she was like it has been socool getting to watch you on
(14:02):
this journey, like it's been socrazy and cool and just seeing
the things you've done sincethen.
And it was really cool to hearthat.
And part of the reason Idecided to record this episode
was to share with y'all how Ibecame a horse photographer and
how I got to where I am today.
Becky really reminded me ofthat, but being in Kentucky also
really reminded me of that.
So did this workshop?
(14:23):
I don't know how many days, itwas a few days and the next
thing I was gonna do was startbuilding my clientele.
So what did I do?
I found a client someone I wasconnected with on Facebook,
built in Kentucky, and I reachedout to them and said, hey, I'm
in Kentucky, I'm a horsephotographer.
Can I come photograph yourhorses?
We had mutual connections so Iknew they weren't gonna
hopefully murder me or anything,went into their farm, met them
(14:46):
and I declared to this stranger,like a crazy person, I'm gonna
photograph 365 horses this yearand I'm gonna share all their
stories on my blog.
And I read this lady justlooked at me and was like, oh
cool, and here I was just doingsomething wild and crazy off the
cuff, like no thought processreally went into it, no, real,
(15:07):
like what ifs?
It was the true definition ofjust deciding.
I was gonna do it and do it.
And the reason that I wanted totell you this story is because
in your business, I wannaencourage you in your business,
to just do the thing, to knowthat done is better than perfect
and to know that if you sitaround on an idea and wait long
(15:28):
enough, it will never make itout into the world.
And what you do and yourpurpose on this earth should be
shared.
It should be put out there topeople, but all too often we let
the fear and the worry and theanxiety stop us from putting it
out there because we don't thinkit's good enough or done enough
or perfect enough.
If I would have done that, Iwould have never launched my
(15:52):
equine photography brand.
But I did it, and I did itscared and I did it blindly and
I did it without having any ideaof what was actually gonna come
of it.
But I trusted and I put it outthere and I shared it boldly and
loudly for the world to hearand the world to see.
And over the next year Iphotographed 365 horses.
(16:14):
Now I started before the yearbegan because I was smart enough
to know that I wasn't gonnastart the year not having
photographed any horses.
I started.
I don't know what month Istarted, but I started
photographing horses before theyear started and by January I
had already photographed 60horses and every single day I
was sharing a post about thehorse, sharing their story on my
(16:36):
blog and putting my work outthere.
It was such a wild journey,guys.
I think my business coach atthe time told me that I was
crazy.
My business coach told me therewas no way I could do image
reveals and IPS for every singleclient I photographed and I
said guess what I'm going to?
Because I took her advice inthe beginning and I did online
(16:57):
galleries, even though I hadreally never done online
galleries my whole business.
I started out doing sales IPSfrom the early days and I did a
fierce set of horses in anonline gallery and I thought
this is stupid.
I'm not making any money,nobody's buying anything.
I'm doing IPS for 365 horsesand I did.
And I learned so much, not onlyas a photographer.
(17:18):
I learned how to coach myclients through holding and
handling their horses.
I learned how to do in-personsales.
That's the same year that Istarted doing in-person sales,
virtually because most of myclients were not local to me.
I traveled all over the US for365 days of horses, so most of
my clients were not local to me.
It was really just such a cooljourney and such a cool
(17:40):
experience.
The reason behind that was toget really good at photographing
horses.
It was to build a following, tobuild an audience, to grow my
email list.
It was really a marketing thing.
But the other piece of it wasto make money and to sell and I
did all of those things I did somuch more than I could have
(18:03):
imagined.
That year I set out onInstagram that I was gonna grow
by a thousand followers a monthon Instagram, which was crazy.
But we did.
We grew by nearly a thousandfollowers every single month of
our 365 days of worst project.
Now I will admit Instagram backthen was a lot easier than
Instagram now.
Instagram now is temperamentaland like an angry old man that
(18:28):
doesn't like me anymore.
But back in the day Instagramwas happy and friendly and loved
people.
I would say it's not that greatanymore.
So don't take that thousandfollowers a month thing and be
like I'm gonna get a thousandfollowers a month, because
that's a little bit harder intoday's day and age.
But really it was such a coolexperience and it really built
what I have today in my business.
(18:50):
It really laid the foundationand it's what I'm very well
known for in my portraitbusiness to this day.
And after that first year of 365days of horses, I closed down
my wedding business.
I stopped taking weddings, Istopped taking babies and I said
I'm doing this full force.
For that year, when I was doing365 days of horses, I was
running three separate websites,three separate social media
(19:13):
channels, one for each of mybrands, and it was hard.
It was so hard.
So if you ever come to me andsay, should I separate brands or
should I keep them together,I'm probably gonna tell you to
keep them together because,trust me, you don't want to end
up running three separate brands.
It isn't super fun, but thereally cool thing about
launching my equine brand wasnot only the project that I did,
(19:34):
but also I got to build abusiness fresh from scratch and
not make the same mistakes andthe same road bumps along the
way.
I got to set my pricing whereit needed to be.
I got to do all those thingsfrom the get go, which made my
growth easier because I wasn'tconstantly redoing and reworking
the system.
I had a system that worked andall I was doing at that point
(19:56):
was then tweaking the system, soit was a really cool experience
.
I want to add a side note righthere, because you're going to
hear this and you're going to belike that sounds amazing.
I'm going to go photograph 365sessions.
I'm going to encourage you togo do big, crazy things, but do
them smartly.
I wasn't photographing asession every single day.
(20:16):
I was sometimes photographing15 to 20 sessions in a day and
the sessions were quick andshort 15 to 30 minute sessions
in one location.
I wasn't traveling to 365different locations to do this.
It was a very strategic waythat it was done.
So if you decide to do a big,crazy project, like I did, find
(20:38):
something that feeds your heartand soul, be unique to you.
Don't just do something becauseyou're like that sounds cool.
Make it your own, build it in away it's not going to burn you
out.
I will say I do a lot of crazythings that my business coaches
told me I'm crazy for doing, andI will admit that sometimes I
tell my coaching clients becareful, you might get a little
burnt out doing that, becauseit's kind of big and crazy, but
(20:59):
I've done it myself.
So I can't really speak forthat, because I am the person
that does big, crazy and samethings in my business and I
don't always think them throughand I don't always do them
perfectly, but I do them when Iset my mind to them.
Don't be afraid to do big,crazy things, but also do it
with caution and do it in asmart way.
Do it in a way that makes youmoney.
(21:21):
Do it in a way that feeds yoursoul and feed your business.
It isn't going to burn you out,because there is always that
that happens and I've seen ithappen time and time again when
people have tried to dosomething similar, as they've
got to that burnt out place butat the same time, it was so cool
to do and it was such a greatexperience.
And so if y'all are wonderingand you've tried to look me up
(21:42):
on social media what's currentis portrait business on
Instagram it's actually 365 daysof horses, so, funny enough,
that is a bit of a weird thingthat sometimes there's a bit of
a brand disconnect and if youever hear me talk about branding
and business names and all thisstuff, I always recommend
Sigeen with your name, because alot of people follow 365 days
of horses and are very familiarwith the account, but sometimes
(22:05):
they don't have the brandrecognition of that's Corinda
because the name is differentand, honestly, it was so well
known that I've been told by alot of my personal mentors that
I need to change the Instagramaccount name.
But it is such a big part of meand my story and my journey
that I love having it aroundbecause it's great to share,
like.
Here's why my Instagram iscalled 365 days of horses, and
(22:25):
we're actually bringing it backat the moment in my portrait
business and another variationwhere we're photographing 365
horses for charity.
So it is kind of coming backinto my business and I'm trying
to bring it back in and bring itfull circle not necessarily in
a year this time, because I havea lot of other things going on
too in my business, so I don'tknow that that would happen in a
year.
But who knows, we did 210,220ish horses last year, I think
(22:51):
.
So not too far from 365 again,but a little bit different.
The thing is is that if Iwouldn't have done the big scary
thing, if I wouldn't have justjumped in blindly, if I wouldn't
have just acted when it feltright, it would have never
happened.
And also, if I would have justlistened to what I wanted to do
in the early years of mybusiness, which was
(23:13):
photographing horses and animals, because that's what I loved, I
like to wonder, like, whatthings would have been like if I
would have started that brandfrom day one.
How would things have beendifferent if I was an equine
photographer from day one?
Don't get me wrong.
I'm incredibly grateful for myexperience as a wedding
photographer.
I learned so much.
I compose like nobody'sbusiness and under pressure and
(23:37):
10 minutes bust out a wholegiant gallery of portraits with
a couple.
I can do so many amazingbeautiful lighting things and I
can work under pressure.
Because I photographed weddings, I can manage people, a whole
herd of people, because Iphotographed weddings, because I
photographed newborns, Ilearned patience and how to be
calm in situations when yourperson that you're photographing
(24:01):
or your animal that you'rephotographing does not cooperate
.
You have to learn how to becalm and just clear your brain
and just let it go, becausebabies can feed off of you and
so can animals.
There were things I learned,but I do also wonder what if I
would have just done what Iwanted to do from the beginning
and not listen to what the worldtold me I should be doing,
which is weddings and babies andfamilies and all of those
(24:23):
things?
Right, I'm going to challengeyou with this Do what you want
to do in your business, do whatfeels good to your heart and
soul, don't just do whateveryone else is doing.
I think this last week atImaging, I talked to so many
photographers that were doingheadshots and personal branding
type things.
And I asked them I said is thiswhat you really want to be
doing?
Like, does this feed your heartand soul?
(24:44):
And they were, like no, but itpays the bills.
And I stopped so manyphotographers that said that to
me and I said don't do the thingthat just feels like it pays
the bills.
Find a way to make money doingthe thing you love.
And I was talking to a super,super freaking talented
(25:06):
photographer months ago and thatwas something she said to me.
She said I was told that mystyle was never going to pay the
bills, that I was never goingto make money doing this, that
it was too different, that itwas too weird.
But look at me now, and so whatI really want you to think
about is are you building thebusiness that you love and that
is what you want to be doing, oryou're just doing the thing
(25:28):
because it's what you'resupposed to do as a photographer
?
And the other thing I want toremind you is do the big scary
thing.
Jump off the cliff when youaren't ready.
Just do it, because the resultsand the things that come from
it are so amazing.
When I did my 365 days of horsesproject.
People had to apply to be apart of the project and they had
to submit their stories becauseI wanted to share powerful
(25:50):
stories.
I can remember this like it wasyesterday.
I remember the applicationspouring in and every application
that come in I would be soexcited to read it and decide
whether it was, you know, a goodfit for the project or not, or
you know what it was.
And I remember sitting in thecamper at the kitchen table,
which was my desk, and Iremember my husband was in the
(26:12):
shower and it was evening timeand he was getting ready for bed
and I just popped on mycomputer because I had a bunch
of applications come in and Iremember opening up this
application and reading thisapplication and I remember
sitting there and crying,literally reading the story and
crying.
And if you want to read thestory, just go search my name,
carinda K Pepper, kentucky, andyou'll find this horse's blog.
(26:34):
And I remember reading thestory about this horse and it
brought tears to my eyes.
And I remember Austin gettingout of the shower and he was
like what's wrong with you?
You know, I really think greatCarinda's cried on to your
podcast now, but it was a storyabout this horse that had
essentially been this man's safespace while he was going
(26:56):
through cancer treatment and heeventually did pass away, and it
was a story about his horse.
And, oh man, for some reasonthat story stands out to me more
than anything else.
I did it in that project.
That horse stands out to memore than any other horse I
photographed in that project andwhen you go look at the blog
(27:17):
and you read the story and youfind the photos of Pepper she's
this chestnut mare You'll knowwhy, right, and I think it was
at that moment that I reallyrealized this is what I'm
supposed to be doing with myportrait business.
There is something soincredibly powerful and valuable
and magical with horses and theway they heal us and take care
(27:39):
of us and nurture us.
These are the stories I'msupposed to be sharing.
I knew that I had to go toKentucky and I had to photograph
that horse and I did.
It was truly amazing and it wasa very small.
Obviously there were a lot ofhorses that I photographed, a
lot of people, a lot of horses Imet that year, and there's many
of them that pop into my brainthat stand out to me, but that
one was just the moment that Iwas like this project is what
(28:02):
I'm supposed to be doing, and itwas so powerful and it was so
amazing.
Y'all I'm just prefaced this Ify'all go back and look at those
pictures Pepper's pictures areamazing, but not all those
pictures are amazing.
I was learning, but it was sucha cool journey and it was such
a cool experience and I reallyrealized that that's what I was
supposed to be doing.
Those were the people I wassupposed to be serving.
(28:23):
Those are the stories I wasborn to be telling with my
portraits, with my blog, with myplatform.
If thinking about what you'redoing in your business doesn't
excite you like that, it doesn'tmake you feel that passionately
Like I feel about this, thenthat's your sign to look at this
and reevaluate it.
I have a couple of podcastepisodes.
We also talk about it in ourbook, the Unicorn Finding your
(28:45):
why.
The thing that makes your heartgo pitter-patter is so
important in building yourbusiness around.
That, from the types ofsessions you photograph, the way
you talk to your clients, theway you pose them, the way you
guide them, the way you directthem, the products you offer,
everything in your businessshould be shaped by your why and
when your business is shapedaround that, you're going to
(29:05):
attract those people that makeyour heart go pitter-patter and
that make you fall in love withyour business each and every day
when you work with them, andthat is valuable and that is
important, guys.
So I just want to remind youthat.
I hope that hearing my story hasbeen good and inspiring.
You know, when I was talkingabout the early days of our
journey, I was first out ofcollege.
(29:27):
My husband was building hiscareer and trying to finish
college while working full-timeand going to school online.
We had nothing.
We had nothing.
We lived in a camper.
We bought four acres that weown, our finance and we fought
and called our way to get towhere we are now, and I can
(29:48):
honestly say there were a lot ofyears in the beginning that I
didn't get to pay myself much,if nothing at all, and now my
business is finally at a placewhere I'm like whoa, this is
amazing.
My business has allowed me todo so many cool things, not only
in my life like we've been ableto buy a house, we've been able
to buy vehicles.
(30:08):
We just bought a big camper forthe business, because we travel
so much with the business anddo events and different things
and we needed somewhere to stay.
All of these things that I'mable to just go do because of my
portrait business and becauseof this, and I want to encourage
you that if I can do this,y'all can do this too.
Like I'm a hot mess sometimesy'all.
(30:30):
I had a client phone call todayand my three-year-old was home
with me and he was being aturkey and he was running off
and screaming and I had to tellmy client hang on.
Because I had to run and chasehim and slide him out of my
husband's office because myhusband left a work call and my
office is not perfectly cleanand my desk is messy and you
know what?
(30:50):
I'm pretty sure I have ADHD andprobably all of y'all agree,
and I'm really an introvert.
I'm feeling sometimes exhaustme.
But if I can do this, y'all cando this too.
But you're going to have to doit.
You're going to have to do thescary thing.
You're going to have to diveinto things head first.
You're just going to have tojump off the cliff, even when
you're not sure, and sometimesyou're going to need someone to
(31:12):
kick you in the butt and jumpoff the cliff.
And if you ever need that, knowthat I'm here and I'm a
professional butt kicker and I'mgreat at pushing people off the
cliff to do the thing they needto do.
That's what my coaching clientsalways say.
They're like Karinda, we knowyou're going to kick us in the
butt and make us do the thing,but sometimes we all need it.
Sometimes, you know.
I think the funny part is Idon't think I ever had a
(31:32):
business coach that reallyencouraged me and do the scary
thing.
I think a lot of times mybusiness coach be careful about
this, be careful about that.
And I took their warning signsometimes and played it small
and then realized, screw theirwarning signs, I'm going to do
big things in my business.
So do the big things in yourbusiness.
Do what you love.
Do what makes your heart gopitter-patter, even when
(31:54):
somebody tells you it's notgoing to pay the bills, or even
if you're sitting there thinkingI don't know if it's going to
pay the bills.
Do it.
If I can do it, you can do ittoo.
Guys, nobody needs photographsof their horses.
They don't.
It's not a necessity, and youknow what.
I make a living doing it.
I make a great living doing itand my business has changed my
life and I want each and everyone of you to be able to
(32:16):
experience the same thing.
And also my business hasallowed me to pour into other
people.
My business has allowed me togive the half.
We wrote a check for like$15,000 and we still have
another $5,000 that we're goingto send to a charity from last
year.
Being able to donate that muchmoney to a charity, that's a lot
of money to be able to donate.
There was a day when I used todream and think, oh, would it be
(32:38):
cool if I could give back to acharity or start a scholarship
fund or do something cool likethat.
And I'm able to do that.
It's the same reason I'm here,able to record a podcast and pay
for it and just share thesethings with y'all and encourage
y'all and be in your ear andjust helping you along the way
in your business is because Imake money doing my portrait
(33:00):
thing.
I'm able to pour into y'all andto serve y'all and spend all
this time and energy writing abook to share with y'all all of
this wealth of knowledge that Ihave had to fight and claw and
just learn over the last.
I can't even keep track of howmany years 12 years now as a
business owner this podcast, mycoaching business, the book, all
(33:21):
these things I'm doing to helpphotographers is because I want
to help y'all succeed.
I want to see y'all grow and Iactually haven't ever really
shared my full story like this.
And recently I did a Facebooklive in my private Facebook
community for photographers it'scalled Photography Business 2.0
with Karina K, if you're not inthere, but I did like a live
video and I actually kind ofwalked around our property and I
(33:44):
told the story of where westarted, the things we've done,
kind of how we've gotten to ourrats today, and people were like
I am so glad you shared that,karina, because I think it's
important to remember that noteverybody just wakes up and has
things.
Some people have to work forthings and you know I was very
lucky to have a lot of amazingthings growing up.
But my parents went through areally terrible divorce and my
(34:08):
mom and I were kind of left tohung out and dry for my last
year of high school and we hadto survive and I watched my mom
fight and claw her way andseeing my mom do that, I think,
was a big piece of why I wasable to do this and build my
business.
My mom had been to stay at homemom for 30 years or something
(34:28):
when my dad filed for divorce.
My mom had a college degree thatwas not super great for getting
a job.
She had a home ec degree andshe went back to college when
she was how old was she 58?
And I watched my mom sit therenot knowing how to type and
(34:50):
literally peck the keyboard onher computer and type papers and
I watched her go to class with20 year olds and study and work
so hard to just give herself theeducation so she could go get a
good job and do things for us.
And it showed me likeperseverance If she could sit
(35:10):
there and pack out an essay forcollege with her pointer fingers
literally.
Whom I'd say I can't dosomething right?
Whom I'd say I can't dosomething when her whole life
was ripped off from underneathher?
Whom I'd say I can't doanything whenever I watched her
fight so hard and I had to fightjust as hard.
(35:31):
I had to fight to finish schooland hang on to the life I had
and go to college and do thethings and survive, and it
wasn't easy, but through that Ilearned so much and through that
I learned how to be determinedand how to fight for what I
wanted, and that has definitelycarried on in my business.
It hasn't always been easy andmy life has not always been what
(35:52):
it is today, but I fought foreverything, me and my husband
like.
We've built this from theground up and I say we because
he is my biggest cheerleader andhe is my biggest support and he
is doing the same thing in hislife and his career too.
But just know that, no matterwhere you're at, if you're ready
to fight and if you're willingto do the hard thing, and if
(36:14):
you're willing to jump off thecliff and do what you need to do
and do it scared and do itimperfect, you're going to get
there.
I love y'all.
I hope you've enjoyed hearingmy story.
I hope that it's allowed you tosee who I am, see a little bit
more of my heart.
I could really go on and on.
There's been so many crazy,incredible things on my journey
(36:35):
of where I could have ended upin life, but I know that this is
where I was meant to be and Iam so thankful that I ended up
here, even though on my journeyin life, if you would have told
me I would have been aphotographer, I would have told
you you were crazy.
Probably up to the month beforeI started my business, I would
have told you you were crazy.
But here I am and I'm doing it,and I'm here to show you that
(36:56):
anything is possible.
So go out there, fight for it,do the things, build your
business and, most importantly,as you're building your business
, take the time to learn and bea good student.
But don't just be a goodstudent.
Be a good implementer, becauseI don't want y'all to be
lifetime students.
I want y'all to be the peoplethat understand something, take
(37:20):
the knowledge and you implementit in a way that feels good to
you and your business, becausewithout that, you're going to
look back and you're going tosay how did I end up here?
That's not what I wanted, andI'm not happy and I don't want
you to be there.
Thanks y'all for listening tothis.
I love each and every one ofy'all.
I know y'all might hear me saythis.
I actually said this tosomebody at Imaging.
I said I love you so much,you're so amazing.
(37:42):
And they looked at me and werelike but you don't really know
me yet and I was like yes, I do.
Like we have talked for hours,that's just too much.
I just love people but I lovey'all.
Even if you've never met me, Ilove you too and I appreciate
you trusting me to listen to mystory and to follow my advice
and my guidance as you buildyour business.
I hope that you took somethingaway from this.
If you did, send us a DM, posta screenshot on social media and
(38:06):
share with us that you'relistening to the podcast and tag
us.
We don't really know who listensto the podcast unless you DMS
and tell us podcast statisticsand analytics are super weird,
so we really only know if y'allare listening, if y'all share
with us and DMS and let us know.
So let us know what you'reloving on the podcast.
Let us know what you want tohear more of this season.
If you haven't already grabbedour book, the Unicorn of
(38:26):
Business Books for Photographers, go grab the book.
It is so good.
If you're interested in joiningone of our coaching programs,
whether it's your magic gear orour Master your Mind and Money
coaching program you can apply.
Link is in our show notes oryou can apply at
masteryourmindmoneycom.
Forward slash apply.
I would love to talk to you,even if you're not sure if
you're ready to join a codingprogram or get help in your
(38:47):
business, just know that I'mhere for you.
Also, if you want to join ourfree Facebook group Photography
Business, tune up.
I love y'all.
It's been an amazing week and Ihope that this podcast brings
you a little bit more magic inyour business this year.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Thank you so much for listening.
If you enjoyed this episode andyou'd like to support the
podcast, please make sure youshare it on social media or
leave a rating and review.
As always, you can check outthe links and resources in the
show notes over atmasteryourmindmoneycom.
To catch all the latest from me, you can follow me on Instagram
at masteryourmindmoneycom, anddon't forget to join our free
(39:22):
Facebook group PhotographyBusiness.
Tune up with Corinne Decay.
Thanks again and I'll see younext time.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.