We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kelly McCaskill. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kelly below.
Hi Kelly, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
I have always been an optimistic person, but when I left my full-time job as an interior designer to become a photographer, I was not so optimistic.
I had a lot of doubts creeping into my mind. “Will people hire me? Will I make enough money? Is my photography good enough? What if this doesn’t work out?”. I live in rural New Hampshire, so starting a commercial photo + video business focused around architecture and brands seemed a little risky. Throughout the first year, I clung to these thoughts and really wondered if I made the right decision. I knew I had the skills and the eye, but imposter syndrome quickly set in and I wasn’t very optimistic.
However, my mind started to shift as I worked hard and had little successes. I joined networking groups, went to events, cold called busniesses, and shared work on all the social channels. I wrote down small achievable goals that I would feel good about, but also some big long term goals. I kept working towards them and just stuck with it, because I had to prove to myself that I tried my hardest. This is when I started to feel my optimism again.
I’m glad I hung onto that little bit of optimism because, to my surprise, things started working out. The more I kept taking little steps towards my goals and the more work came in. Now, I have been in business over 5 years, with a full-time employee, multiple reoccurring clients, and large projects I would’ve never imagined working on (like filming an HGTV online show!). I’ve realized that hopefulness and confidence about the future, even if you don’t know what the future holds, can lead to amazing outcomes. Without optimism, I don’t think my business would be so successful.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My name is Kelly McCaskill and I own Ridgelight Studio, a commercial photo & video business based in New Hampshire. We specialize in capturing architecture, brands, and products. What’s exciting about our work is we are constantly meeting new people, seeing new places, and having fun while creating our work.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The biggest qualities that lead to our success are optimism, ability to learn, and having an eye for composition. As a photographer and videographer, it’s very important to have a good eye. But my optimism and ability to learn is actually how the business became successful. Learning how to run a business (client management, proposals, invoices, taxes, SEO, etc.) was crucial to starting this endeavor. Staying optimistic about the journey is what fueled me to keep going!
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
The particular challenge we currently face is one that I didn’t think was possible: being overbooked. When you start a business, especially a service based one like photo and video, it’s easy to say yes to it all. However, this is not sustainable. There are only so many hours in a day and only so many projects we can work on. We’re currently working on how to schedule out better so there is more time for editing, and focusing on projects that we are proud to work on. Learning to say “no” will be the hardest part.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ridgelightstudio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ridgelightstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ridgelightstudio
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/35437554/admin/feed/posts/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RidgelightStudio/videos
Image Credits
Ridgelight Studio
