We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Teuvo Orjala a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Teuvo, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
My creativity is kept alive by constantly learning and growing my skill set. If I feel like I have mastered an aspect of my work I always look for a new avenue to explore and grow my creativity.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
At around the age of 25 I made up my mind that I was going to be some type of creative designer. A friend of mine was a truly talented artist and I wanted to share his art with the world via a clothing company. Unfortunately at the time I had no money and no resources to start a business but, I grew up in a family of self employed individuals so in my world view it was 100% possible to work for yourself and be successful.
So I decided to start a painting company to make the money I needed to start my clothing company. A year later, and lots of money and time spent, I realized I needed professional training to be able to own a graphic design business. I immediately started saving money and moved to San Diego in 2007 to go to graphic design school.
By the time I was graduating I realized that to repay my loans website design was where the money was, and I (sort of) gave up on the clothing company and decided to start a media company. It took many years to build clientele, while still bar tending, until I could finally pay all my bills doing what I loved.
What I noticed is almost always when I partnered with a business owner to update they’re media presence they lacked quality imagery to use for their marketing. Photography had long been a hobby passion of mine so I started to add photos to my marketing packages. This became my sweet spot. Being able to offer new headshots, product photos, event photo/video, etc when doing a rebrand or new marketing, insured that it always felt exciting, new, and worth the money.
This now feels pretty standard when working with a media team but back then it felt brand new. Most agency’s would have to contract out their photography and I was able to offer it all in house. Graphic design, web design, photography, and marketing. It meant that when I got a new client they didn’t have to go anywhere else for any of their media needs.
This did go against one of my favorite teachers advice of “specialize if you want to make the most money” but it fit in so perfectly with my personal passion for constantly learning and challenging myself. If a client came to me with an ask that I was trained in yet I was close all the blinds on a holiday weekend and study and practice until I gained that skill. And this was before YouTube was it is today. I used Linda a lot I remember.
Today my wife and I run a boutique media company out of Coeur d’Alene Idaho and call ourselves “brand managers”. I do a lot more photography then web design these days, and my wife does a lot of marketing. We are able to make our own schedules, charge competitive rates, while delivering a superior quality and customer service then most of the local agencies.
I think all of this is possible because I truly did “do what you love and the money will follow”. The part of that people don’t tell you though is that it required my making the choice to do it at 25 and never looking back even if it required me to be washing dishes after hours at my catering company when I was 30 years old because I did yet have enough clients. Many people I know would be embarrassed and feel like a failure to be in a dish pit at 30 after going to school. But I never lost sight of my passion for being creative and the rock solid belief I would eventually acquire the type of creative skills that warranty good pay.
When the real estate market exploded in Idaho during the pandemic I kept getting asked to do real estate photography. I thought real estate photography was cheesy HDR that agents wanted cheap and not something I was interested in. After some research I realized there was a more professional, and difficult type of real estate photography called flambient (Using flash to create proper colors) which I decided to learn. Two years later and I have almost mastered this new skill and have created a new clientele and name for myself as the local master of this type of photography.
My ethos around business is that quality takes time and people appreciate quality. I take this approach with anything I’m doing and it has never let me down.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The best advice I ever got was from my Uncle Mark, who owned a very successful painting company in Seattle. I said “Teuvo you can hire the same kinds of painters I can here. What matters is that you charge enough to hire the best painters”. His approach to business was that you can either work for the people who want it cheap or the people who don’t care what it cost to do it right. Either way you’re working.
I took this advice to heart and still live by it today. I charge enough to do great work and if a client ever isn’t happy I fix it no questions asked. If I forgot to shoot a closet in a home or a particular angel for a head shot I come back immediately and reshoot it. How can I afford this? I charge enough that I don’t have to cram extra work in ever free minute of the day and have flexibility in my schedule. I could schedule more shoots but I don’t. I charge more and shoot less to insure higher quality.
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
My ideal client is someone who has a mature understanding of what quality is and what it takes to create quality work. As well someone who communicates effectively and respects my time as much as I respect theirs.
Contact Info:
- Website: fixedfocusmedia.com
- Instagram: @fixedfocusmedia
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fixedfocusmediapage
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@fixedfocusmedia7829
Image Credits
These are all my photographs.
