We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sarah Swanson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sarah below.
Sarah , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
What a great question. I had to stop and really think about this. I believe the best explanation I can come up with for my resiliency is from lived experiences. I do think resilience comes more natural to some and can be taught to others. For me, I think I have always been resilient even before I knew what it meant. Even with that, I can contest to the fact it hasn’t always been easy to be resilient. Most of the time it is the very opposite of what you feel naturally.
Resilience to me is a mindset that leads to action when times are hard, and you feel down and out. It is finding a way to look for the good in the bad and make the most of your new start to rebuild stronger. Regarding my career, I have had to reach deep inside to hurdle painful setbacks and keep going forward. Sometimes in new directions I did not ever expect to head in but always ending up in a better place than I started.
When I look back over the course of my whole life, my resilience was alive and thriving way before I became a working professional. I think my most vivid memory of resiliency at a younger age was during my running career. I battled through several injuries throughout my six years as a competitive runner. One of which, I was told would end my running career by a sports medicine doctor as he reviewed my MRI and diagnosed me with compartment syndrome in my right shin.
I could have listened to him, and maybe a lot of people who read this would have said that I should have. Instead, I decided to do my own research, listen to my body, and set out to try one last competitive season with a goal to beat a personal record of mine in the mile. I wanted to compete with only myself to prove that I am done when I say I am done, not when someone who doesn’t know my strength and ability to persevere through hardships tells me. After six months of physical therapy and six months of training, I ran one final competitive track season in college and beat my 1-mile record by 23 seconds, which is a lot for the mile.
I think going through that experience, along with several more personal experiences early on, I developed confidence in myself to gets through hardships. I want to acknowledge that the way I view and handle my conflicts, heartbreaks, job loss, or other hardships in life, may not be the right way for others. It just what works for me. I cannot pinpoint where my resiliency came from per se. I can only tell you that especially in this past year of my life, I have had to lean into my resiliency more than ever and I find myself in a better place because of it.
Almost one year ago, I was faced with a similar situation to many Americans recently, finding out unexpectedly my job was being dissolved overnight. I had just purchased my first home weeks prior to this news. I found myself in complete shock and wanted to just lean into what felt easier than being resilient…giving up on everything and letting the fear of this news consume me. I did allow myself to mourn my loss for a set amount of time that felt healthy to me, and then I lit the resiliency fire back up and started to take my life back day by day. I set after a huge goal of mine to start my own freelance photography and production business full time. Within a few months, I was hitting my monthly goal earning target. Deciding to light the resiliency fire was the best thing I have ever done for my career.
Not only did I launch my first LLC, I also chased after another passion of mine with my newfound free time and got certified in Pilates. Looking at a hard life situation as a chance to rebirth my career has opened many beautiful doors. Within less than year of my news, I am successfully running one business of my own and about to launch a second.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am most excited about the fact that both of my business are topics in which I am passionate about. I will be continuing to grow SJ Life Photography until I feel I am maxed out on clients/brands monthly. I am thankful so far; I have been able to balance my time well and still take on new clients monthly. I would love to share with anyone interested in learning more about my photography and production business to reach out to me directly through my website at SJLife.Photography, (no .com) and fill out an inquiry form. Our first discovery call is completely complimentary. I love collaborating with local artist as well and am willing to travel to other places outside of Austin if the opportunity is right.
I am excited to share SJ Life Pilates will be launching soon. There is no set date or website yet but you can follow along on updates for that by following my SJ Life Photography Instagram @sjlifephotography. I will announce the launch when it is official from there. I am leaning into a virtual first experience for my business because I need the personal flexibility to maintain my photography business travel schedule. However, I may end up teaching in person a few days a week if I find the right studio to work with my schedule. I am also interested in one-on-one, private, in-person sessions. Your readers can reach out to me through email if they are interested at sjlifephotography@gmail.com.
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?
Stay humble. Keep an open and positive mind. Never stop learning.
There are tons of other photographers out there for any one client of mine to choose from. Consequently, I must keep focusing on my-self growth, my brand, and the quality of my work to ensure that I stay relevant, competitive and continue to provide the best experience and quality results for my clients. Note – that I said “my,” because the only brand success I am in control of, is my own. It is easy to compare yourself and get imposter syndrome in highly creative and competitive fields. Some creatives I have met fear sharing their “trade secrets” or boast about their success by name dropping clients or amounts they make on assignments. I find this to be a sign of insecurity. I have learned staying humble and letting your work and success do the talking for your brand is much more effective in attracting new clients.
I had to learn to keep an open and positive mind while working with brands. It is so easy to get emotionally crushed when a creative director gives you feedback that doesn’t feel positive about your work. However, not desiring feedback (good or otherwise) is extremely damaging to your growth and success. Feedback is the greatest gift a person can give you. Take the feedback as constructive, always assume positive intent, and use it to get better. I personally love to get other people’s perspective on my work; it’s a great pulse check on if I am hitting the mark with clients. I ask openly and often for feedback to encourage a safe place for communication to flow between me and my clients.
Finally, I strive to keep a growth mindset in life. I never want to come across like a ‘know it all,’ because I don’t know it all. I am a seasoned professional photographer, but that doesn’t mean my way is the best or only way. I am learning all the time and seeking out growth all the time. Even with my most recent education, my six- month program to become Pilates certified, I learned so much about myself that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. If I held back from being vulnerable and hadn’t tried something new, I would have stunted my own growth. I also had no idea that by investing in one of my dreams, being a freelance photographer full time, it would lead to me launching a second business that I am passionate about in less than a year’s time. Fostering a growth mindset and pursuing continued education is the best investment in myself and my career that I have ever made.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
I love this question, and it is completely different with each of one of my businesses.
With SJ Life Photography, my ideal client is a person or brand who is looking for a seasoned professional creative to help bring their vision or brand to life through visual story telling. I also have recently taken on consulting work for a brand that is relocating their creative studio to Austin. They needed someone with experience in building out a large-scale eCommerce studio for them to transition their clothing brand here locally. I had that exact experience under my belt from my prior role and loved the idea of a new challenge within my own business. I love working with any client who sees the value in working with me for the skills and knowledge I will bring to the table. Additionally, I love a client who has an interest in collaborating with me to provide their thoughts and opinions along the planning stages of a shoot to ensure success in the final assets I create. I primarily work with clothing brands but have been open to other opportunities that I found super fun too, like corporate events, personal influencer portfolio building projects, and more. I encourage inquiries from anyone, regardless of their needs, to have an exploration call with me to see if we are a good fit for each other.
As for SJ Life Pilates, I have not launched this business yet, as I mentioned earlier. I plan on taking on private clients and small group clients virtually, and possibly in person, within 30 to 60 days. I hope for a full launch by late summer. For this business, I encourage anyone who has an interest, at any level, in Pilates to come try out a class with me. I know group exercises, like Pilates, can be intimidating. That is why I want to offer private sessions to encourage people to just try it in a safe space for them. I fell in love with Pilates years ago and am beyond excited to share my passion with anyone who is interested. Pilates is fully inclusive to all people and my business will reflect that. Pilates has given me physical and mental strength and positivity I didn’t realize I was lacking.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my story with your readers. I will leave you with this: “I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance, never settle for the path of least resistance.”
― Lee Ann Womack, I Hope You Dance
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sjlife.photography/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sjlifephotography/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-swanson-a587235b/
Image Credits
https://www.sjlife.photography/
