We recently had the chance to connect with Jenny Cruger and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Jenny, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
I definitely think new photographers wanting to start a business or potentially clients outside of this industry really don’t fully understand the costs involved, both with money and time. (And that’s probably true for a lot of industries).
For example, clients will see that we spend about 30-60 minutes actually taking photos; like camera to my face, but don’t even think about the time we spend getting to the studio or location, getting there early, maybe waiting for clients to do hair and makeup at the studio, or spending 30 minutes going through my client wardrobe/changing, talking before and after, etc. and that’s just the time face to face with the client. 30-60 minutes of actually shooting could end up being a half a day spent. And that doesn’t even account for all of the backend/home office things like hours of culling and editing, marketing, client workflows and emails, accounting, etc. We are basically doing our job photographing, but a few other full time jobs in our business as well on the back end.
And don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE every part of it. But all of that time and all of those expenses do need to be accounted for.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Sure! Thanks so much for having me here to do this. Like many photographers (especially moms), I started when my kids were small because I wanted to do something both creative and with my business background after going to college for business and music business. I am so thankful I had that background when starting my business so I had a great foundation for that and could focus on my artistic side, creating a style I loved, etc.
When I began in 2010, 15 years ago, my brand was really born out of not finding the type of photos I wanted for my family and baby at the time – so I thought – well… I can create this if no one else is going to.
Quickly that evolved into a full time career, I rented my first studio in downtown Franklin a year later and have been in a few since then growing bigger with time.
What I love about the photography brand that I started was that my goal was to 1. do a lot of things differently than everyone else around me seemed to be and 2. Work with moms and their babies to make them feeling amazing in their photos since that was important to me now, and I didn’t have that with my mom when I was little.
So I started doing things like curated a client wardrobe so clients wouldn’t have to spend the money or stress about what looked best on them or best in photos or best together with other family members. I didn’t like the idea of a client paying me a percentage of their total to schedule their session and then never hear from me again until session time, so I came up with sending a welcome box to them after booking with some planning/prep, gifts, etc. I really like to take as much off their plate so they don’t have to worry about anything and can have an elevated experience just focusing on their babies and families.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who taught you the most about work?
My dad. He owned is own businesses/worked for himself most of his life and he really encouraged me and was so proud that I was creating my own business in a really sustainable way of charging my worth and actually being able to pay myself a good salary. I lost him in a car accident in 2015, 5 years into my business, but I was so proud of myself that by that point I could help him out when needed, was planning to take my parents on vacation with us, etc. I wish, almost 10 years later now, he could see how my business, and our lives, have grown even more.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
This is an interesting one in terms of thinking of business because I think the safety and security of having ‘enough’. Enough to pay bills on time, buy a little extra, not stress about money every month (which was not the case before I started my business). I’m really proud that a business I started from nothing and with nothing has changed that for me and family.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
Definitely the biggest issue in our industry is photographers not realizing they need to run their numbers (do their cost of doing business) and figure out how to price profitability so they can actually earn a livable salary for the work they’re doing. There’s this belief that artists should just do it for the love of it, but I don’t know how that’s possible in today’s world and they shouldn’t have to. There’s almost this shame around making a successful business, earning a living, etc. and I wish that would go away. After losing my dad (on his way to work) it is so painful to see photographers (who are parents especially) leave their home and families to go work so hard (and so many more hours behind the scenes) to only realize come tax time they basically made nothing, but worked a full time job, or more.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you retired tomorrow, what would your customers miss most?
One of my favorite things clients say to me, and others they refer, is that I make the experience of having newborn & family photos taken so easy and elevated for them while being great with their babies & children, having patience, and always being able to create a gallery of images they absolutely love themselves in, can see their connection with their family, etc.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jennycrugerphotography.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/jennycrugerphotography
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/jennycrugerphotography
Image Credits
Jenny Cruger Photography
