Meet Thomas Chappell

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Thomas Chappell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Thomas below.

Thomas, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I developed my confidence by finding myself. Initially, finding myself was hard while in high school. I was bullied almost every day nonstop for almost 4 years straight, until I had enough. I couldn’t give eye contact to other students in the eyes because I felt they were judging me and criticizing me. I almost committed suicide, until God told me to put the knife away. God helped me build my confidence by giving me the passion to dance. I performed at my school’s pep rallies and I was able to face my bullies and haters in the eyes and not look away. After my performances, I received standing ovations, which catapulted my confidence and self-esteem to new heights. I was able to finish my last two years of high school walking with my head held high and I could look make eye contact other students and not look away. After high school, I used the confidence I’d gained from school and now am operating a photography company where I help my clients gain and boost their confidence in their photos.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a professional photographer with over 5 years of experience in portrait photography. FlickzbyTC is more than just a photography business; it is a brand. His work focuses on capturing natural beauty with subtle enhancements, celebrating authenticity and confidence in every client.

I deliver professionalism and customer service from the moment a client books or a potential client reaches out inquiring about a specific idea they want to execute. My professionalism continues throughout the entire process from consultation to delivering the final edits.

The services I provide are portraits, lifestyle photos, proms, graduations, studio photography, events, and fashion shows.

I am most proud of my patience. I used to be impatient because I wanted things to happen at that moment, but I know everything works out in its own time. As a professional photographer, I continuously perfect my craft in order to get better. Being experienced in retail, I understand that consumers and customers are always looking for competence. I have had a few run-ins with unpleasant customers working in retail and that taught me how to manage and handle clients that could become unpleasant; by keeping a positive attitude and not matching their unpleasantness, but as the famous phrase says, “kill them with kindness”.

The photography industry is hard because you have to separate yourself from the competition. The competition initially took a toll on me because I wanted to be better than everyone else quickly, but I was still in my beginner stage. All photographers have the same goal in mind and to me, I do not need to compete with anyone else, but myself to become better because I know I can be better.

What I believe sets me apart from others is my professionalism from what I call the “TC Experience”. From consultation to sending digital deliverables, I make sure that I deliver exceptional customer service from beginning to end. There isn’t any moment that I drop the ball from being professional. If I want to bring in more clients and revenue, then I must deliver customer service that is memorable and will leave a mark on people. My clients can attest to my professionalism, as I have over ten 5-star reviews on Google and four 5-star client survey submissions. No matter if the person becomes a client or not, I deliver the “TC Experience” so that they know what to expect when becoming one of my clients.

I am most proud of my resilience. Even when I did not receive any clients, I continued to push harder and move towards my goals until they come to fruition. I continued to keep going when I honestly wanted to quit and give up simply because I thought that I wasn’t meant for the industry.

I overcame my challenges by using these six traits: resilience, confidence, patience, perseverance, faith, and determination. If I didn’t embrace those six traits, I would have given up on my dreams and eventually closed my business. I have learned to not give up so easily just because it has not happened yet. I had to be patient to increase my skill level and to start getting paid for my work. I want the world to know that you can be anything you want to be as long as you believe in yourself. Without believing in yourself, you cannot become the great person you are meant to become. Now that I stayed in the game and was patient and believed in myself, it got me to a point of my career that I am happy to be at. It is my time to shine and let everyone know who TC is and what FlickzbyTC represents.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The three qualities that were most impactful on my journey are: resilience, patience, and faith. I am most proud of my resilience. Even when I did not receive any clients, I continued to push harder and move towards my goals until they come to fruition. I continued to keep going when I honestly wanted to quit and give up simply because I thought that I wasn’t meant for the industry. Patience taught me how to wait for the bigger, better, and greater things in life. Instead of always rushing to get clients or make money, patience showed me that if I slow down, breathe, and wait, then life will give me bigger blessings than I could ever imagine. Me putting faith into myself was also extremely impactful because faith boosted my confidence and resilience. In my moments of doubt, I continue to put faith in myself so that I know that I will get to where I want to be in this industry. Faith also taught me not to give up so easily just because the things I wanted had not happened yet. I had to be patient to increase my skill level and to start getting paid for my work. I want the world to know that you can be anything you want to be as long as you believe in yourself. If you want to be successful, three of the most important qualities you must possess are resilience, patience, and faith. These three are the most powerful qualities when put together to push yourself to your success. Give yourself time to slow down and be patient to see what life has to offer. Without believing in yourself, you cannot become the great person you are meant to become.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

I normally work best when I am under pressure; however there are moments where I do get overwhelmed. In the times I get overwhelmed, I stop and take a breath and close my eyes if I can. I then start to slowly take deep breaths and inhale positivity and exhale negativity. This method stops my brain from moving too fast and allows it to slow down. I repeat this as many times as I need to until I feel my brain and body slow down to a comfortable pace so that I can realign myself to the real world. I try to get myself in a calm state of mind so that I can make a rational decision and not make any decisions based off of emotion instead of intellect.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://flickzbytc.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flickzbytc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flickzbytc/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@_flickzbytc