We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jonathan & Lindsay Betz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jonathan & Lindsay below.
Hi Jonathan & Lindsay, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
It’s a mindset of determination, of zero excuses, and of embracing the reality that success begins and ends with our own choices and efforts. We clearly see God’s hand in orchestrating circumstances and experiences that revealed a calling on Jon’s life into photography and serving people with his expertise that he developed over years of training and experience. When we launched our portrait studio in 2006, it was with that confidence of the calling and with excitement for bringing this dream into reality as a team. The willingness to sacrifice and to not have a “Plan B” was rooted in building not a job, but a passion that brought the paycheck. Through every up and down, we can stay the course knowing that we are doing exactly what God put us on this earth to do. Running our business as a married couple also brings resilience as we’re in this together and with a deep commitment first to each other and also to our business.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
It is our great joy and honor to come alongside our client families and freeze a moment in time through the portraits we make for them. We create something lasting – the portrait art we create for each family will outlive us, and the value of the memories brought to mind from these images grows in value for each family.
After the passing of Jon’s much-loved Grandma B, we vividly remember spending hours looking through boxes of her tangible legacy…hundreds of photographs, some dating back to the early 1900s. Our brother-in-law commented, “This next generation probably won’t ever get to do this.” He was touching on the reality that while more photographs are being taken today than at any other point in history, very few of them ever appear on anything other than a digital screen. We know the tangible photograph still matters, and that is why tangible legacy is at the heart of everything we do. More than ever, our digital world creates a greater need for printed pieces and human connection. Families deserve to have their legacy preserved and childhood recorded for their kids. We enter this space and love telling a family’s story through our portraits.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
CRAFT: Jonathan’s journey into professional photography began in the film era. His training under multiple master photographers taught him invaluable skills of getting the image right in the camera and being intentional with every click of the shutter. This has carried into the digital age his ability to remain disciplined with the number of images taken during a portrait session, confidence in capturing the image correctly in the camera (thereby saving hours of time behind the computer developing his work), and a mastery of lighting and posing that gives his work rich colors and timeless appeal.
PASSION: When it’s not just a job but a calling, you bring a deep level of care and commitment to your business that not only impacts grit and determination to reach success but also communicates a deeper level of connection and care to your clients. We absolutely love what we get to wake up and do each day and have immense gratitude for every client family who chooses to do business with us and trust them with their portraits.
DEBT-FREE MINDSET with SOLID FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: From the launch of our business in 2006, we committed to growing debt-free and at the speed of cash. We have always known that as long as we spent less than we make, we would avoid the risk of debt that accounts for the majority of failures for businesses. We grew slow and with the right clients. We grew cash reserves to reach the sustainability to weather the ups and downs. We choose not to use credit cards. By remaining debt-free and being intentional with where our money is spent, we are able to plan ahead for purchases and forward-fuel the needs and dreams in our business while never carrying the risk and weight of debt.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
We have found partnerships with professional organizations, both locally and nationally, to have been instrumental at every step of our business:
– The benefit of keeping pulse on the whole our our photographic industry keeps us relevant
– The continuing education ensures we never stop learning and continue to refine our craft and expertise so we are constantly bringing our clients a better end result and a better experience
– The camaraderie gained from the connections and friendships with those who are also doing what we are doing across the country gives us boosts of energy and excitement and show a vibrancy in our industry.
Alongside those professional organizations, we have been immensely blessed to be in mastermind groups with studios running similar business models as ours in different geographic areas. This has been an “iron sharpens iron” experience by collaborating from all of our collective years of experience in business ownership. It has brought refinements to our mindsets and belief for what is possible in our business. It has raised the bar for us and taken our business to new heights. Spending time with successful people always results in elevating your business with positive refinements, and it’s been invaluable to have a “go-to” group to trouble shoot when challenges have arisen in our business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jonathanbetz.com
- Instagram: @jonathanbetz
Image Credits
Jonathan Betz Photography, Jonathan Betz, M.Photog.Cr, CPP
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