SOVEREIGN (Rebecca Jeanson)

EMPOWERING CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS

issue exclusive: we chat master minds

IT TAKES A VILL AGE ISSUE WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SHORT-TERM OUTSOURCING & BUILDING A L ASTING TEAM

GETTING A BREAK nancy ray & her triedand-true method to taking maternity leave & sabbaticals

outsourcing saved my life JENNA KUTCHER SPEAKS ABOUT RUNNING HER BUSINESS SOLOFOR A WHILE — BUT THEN TO THE GROUND.

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EMPOWERING CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS

cover photographer india earl’s rise to fame

THE PHOTO ISSUE HOW TO STAND OUT WHEN EVERYONE IS A PNW WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

BONUS: Q&A WITH AMAZING L ATER.GRAM FOUNDER how later.gram became the #1 system for image sharing & strategy

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EMPOWERING CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS

religion & biz HOW CAN YOU APPROACH SHARING YOUR FAITH, IF AT ALL? DISCUSSION O N P A G E 10 0

THE NEW WAGE GAP CAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP CHANGE THE INDUSTRY’S FEMALE/MALE DIVIDE BY OFFERING BETTER FLEXIBILIT Y AND MATERNIT Y LEAVE?

#TRIGGERED: WATCHING WORDS tips for everyone to keep in mind during business meetings & online communication to promote respect

bonus: special feature for BHM

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EMPOWERING CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS

bonus tax guide 2019

ALL ABOUT MONEY WITH THE HELL YEA GROUP FOUNDER & COVER STAR PACO DE LEON

$500k & more THIR T Y REAL-LIFE ENTREPRENEUR CASE STUDIES WEIGH IN ON QUICK SUCCESS AND THE DANGER OF FINANCIAL ILLITERACY

PROFIT FIRST LIFEST YLE WITH MIKE MICHALOWICZ sovereignmag.com

EMPOWERING CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS

REAL TALK: BUSINES OWNER WELL BEING DO YOU HAVE TO SACRIFICE YOUR HEALTH FOR SUCCESS? LAURA GORDON SPEAKS.

4 WEEKS OF MEAL PLANS FOR THE CREATIVE BOSS nourishing, gourmet inspired meals. bonus: freezer friendly & made in 1 hour. sovereignmag.com

coaching & mentors: their best advice for burnout AND A BONUS QUIZ IF YOU’RE NOT SURE YOU’RE OVERWORKED. DON’T W O R R Y, W E C A N H E L P !

EMPOWERING CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS

exclusive: audio & video content site tips

GET A DESIGNER OR DIY IT? when is it right to hire someone to design a site, and when can you do it yourself ?

the future of websites WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW A B O U T N O T O N LY G O I N G MOBILE, BUT WHAT WILL CONVERT IN 2020 DESPITE ALL NEW TECH

WEBSITE ISSUE: SEO, PL ATFORMS, & MORE! WHAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU? WHAT ABOUT LEADPAGES? W E I N T E R V I E W E D 10 0 E N T R E P R E N E U R S

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FEATURES

58.

I T TA K ES A VILLAGE

58

What you need to know about outsourcing and hiring your first employee.

73.

OUTSOURCING Jenna Kutcher speaks about running her business solo—to the ground.

80.

HIRING A TEAM

80 73

Nancy Ray & her triedand-true method to taking maternity leave and sabbaticals.

98.

B O N U S F E AT U R E We speak on the dangers and benefits of masterminds.

Are they really worth all that money?

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98

INSIDE

20

35

ISSUE 13

WORK SMARTER

HARD TOPICS

Our favorite tool and system column, with project management and time savers included!

Is the entrepreneurship community inherently exclusive and classist? A social theorist weighs in.

12 PERSONAL MONEY Investing made easy

by Paco De Leon, a business advisor for creatives who “give a shit about finances.”

15 BUSINESS MONEY Are quarterly taxes right for your business? Don’t worry, CPA Amy Northard has the answers.

17 BRANDING: WEB Everything you wanted to know about website platforms but were too afraid to ask, by our in-house designer Kathryn Duckett.

22 C R E AT I V E THERAPY Our favorite poetry, prose, music, and visual inspiration for the month.

Issue focus: badass women killing it in every genre.

25

40 AMA! Hey, Sweet Pea! speaks about heartfelt social media usage in their signature brand voice.

104 EDITOR’S NOTE

YO U R T R E N D REPORT

Wren’s take on how this issue fits with what we’re facing today.

What to do about Instagram’s algorithm?

Natalie Franke has a solution.

READERS SPEAK OUT

108

30

110

HONESTY HOUR

A LOOK BACK IN TIME: ENTREPRENEUR IN FOCUS

How creative entrepreneurs faced burnout and kept going.

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THE BEST SITE

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PL ATFORM Everything you wanted to know about Squarespace As a business owner, it’s essential to have a digital home where people can stop by, get to know you, and hire you for services or purchase your products. But amidst all the options for which platform to use, who should host your site, which template to choose, and more, how do you know what works best for you?

SIEGER & BL ANCHE, A FASHION S T U D I O B U I L T O N S Q U A R E S PA C E .

When I started my business, I knew I needed a platform that would offer ease of use without sacrificing design or breaking the bank. That’s where Squarespace comes in! (Cue the “Hallelujah” chorus.) You guys, I seriously love this platform, and no, Squarespace isn’t paying me to tell you that I love them. This is genuine appreciation for a platform that makes this aspect of running my business so stinkin’ easy. As a matter of fact, I even listed is as one of my top 11 tools I use to run my design business! All the time I see people asking about the pros and cons of WordPress versus Squarespace, and I see the benefits for each.

However, Squarespace won me over, and here are 15 reasons why:

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PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

1 | TWO WEEK TRIAL PERIOD.

3 | EASY AND INTUITIVE INTERFACE.

For anyone who’s unsure about choosing Squarespace as their platform, they make it a lot easier to feel good about your investment by allowing a free two week trial period. It gives you the opportunity to explore different templates, get a good feel for how to design different pages, add elements like galleries and social blocks, and see how the space could be customized to be your online home.

My number one priority when creating a website (besides the design aspect) was my ability to be completely self-sufficient straight from the get-go. I wanted to be able to design the site myself, makes changes as my business grew, and easily maintain the working parts involved in a website without having to invest a ton of time into learning how to code or navigate a confusing back end. The intuitive set up and process for building pages and adding elements makes Squarespace so simple to learn, and the two week trial period allows more than adequate time to familiarize yourself with the platform. I didn’t want to have to pay for someone to design my site and then continually pay extra to have it maintained and updated.

If you’re a designer working on creating a website for a client, the two week trial definitely comes in handy for you, too. You can create a trial site under your account and give your client access to the site to see how it’s shaping up before launching and handing the reins over to them.

2 | AFFORDABLE. When I was just starting my business, I knew that a website would definitely be a necessary investment. However, that doesn’t mean it needs to eat up your whole budget! By going with Squarespace as your platform, you don’t have to pay the hefty price tag of a custom made site, or pay a bunch of separate fees and extra costs of hosting, purchasing a template, using different plug-ins etc. Each Squarespace plan offers different levels, but whatever your needs they’re all very affordable. Plus, you can claim the cost on your taxes!

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I’ve worked with with clients who have had to wait on updating their site until their web designer/ developer was available. This is a huge pain point for small business owners! When I design sites for clients, I use Squarespace so they can avoid that type of situation. I get the site designed, fitted with their branding, and organized in a way that’s easy to navigate, meets their goals, and is welcoming to their visitors. Then I teach them how to do updates as their business grows so they can makes changes as soon as they need to.

4 | NO CODING REQUIRED.

Squarespace requires no coding experience, however they do have a developer end you can go into if your heart desires! For this lady with no coding experience, that is a definite bonus. But it also means that people who want to tweak the code or change the CSS have the option to do so.

It’s a win-win for everyone!

5 | RESPONSIVE DESIGN. The beauty of Squarespace templates (besides the sleek design) is the fact that they are all responsive. This means that your site will look great no matter what device your visitor is using.

Not to mention that responsive sites rank higher on Google!

When you’re designing your site you can switch views from desktop, to tablet, to mobile to see exactly how everything translates from device to device. Pretty handy!

6 | PLUG-INS ARE OPTIONAL. Although there are plug-ins available for Squarespace, it’s certainly not a necessity. A lot of features added to WordPress sites with plug-ins are already built into Squarespace’s capabilities. Because of this, there are less worries about needing to update plug-ins and putting your site at risk for getting hacked. However, if you’re wanting to give your Squarespace a unique flair or give a boost to a certain feature, then looking into plug-ins would be a great option for you!

7 | EASY TO CONNECT SOCIAL ACCOUNTS.

8 | S I M P L E-TO R E A D A N A LY T I C S .

Connecting your social accounts is as simple as going into your settings, selecting which accounts you want to connect, and then logging in.

Once you’re connected, the icons will show up wherever you’ve decided to include social links, like in the footer of your site, or in your blog side bar. You can also then include blocks that show various social feeds, like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Squarespace also makes it easy to up your Pinterest game. Within your settings, you can add a “Pin It” button to your site’s images, and Squarespace works with Pinterest to create rich pins. Rich pins = more clicks to your site.

Within the “Metrics” panel found in the back end of a Squarespace site, you can find out all kinds of helpful analytics. You can see how many people are visiting your site, number of page views, your most popular posts, top referrers, etc.

If you want even more insights about your website’s analytics, it’s really simple to connect your site to Google Analytics.

9 | EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE. Run into a problem? There are a ton of resources, guides, tips, etc. with their “Help” section. However, if you can’t find the answer there,

you can ask their super helpful customer service or ask other users in the “Answers” section.

10 | HOSTING. When I signed up for Squarespace, hosting was a breeze, especially since I didn’t have a pre-existing site. Hosting costs are included in the annual fee, and your domain gets renewed automatically each year. But don’t worry! Moving a site from a different platform is pretty straightforward, and Squarespace provides thorough instructions on how to reroute your domain.

1 1 | E A S I LY C O N N E C T T O M A I L C H I M P. If you’re trying to grow your mailing list by getting people to sign up for your newsletter through a form on your site or opting in for a sweet freebie, you’ll be happy to know that Squarespace is incredibly easy to integrate with MailChimp. You simply create a form, connect the email storage to MailChimp, and select which list you want the email addresses to feed into. From that point on, it’s getting everything ready with MailChimp’s automation.

12 | BEAUTIFUL T E M P L AT ES F O R A BEAUTIFUL SITE. Every single one of Squarespace’s templates promise the outcome of a beautiful and professionallooking website, which is a great start to creating a welcoming online home for your business!

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Take the time upfront to look for a template that’s just right by reading through the feature index and viewing other sites made with a particular template.

If there are things you want for sure, like a sidebar on your blog, make sure the template you select allows that. Once you commit to a template, you can certainly change it. However, be aware that all the design settings, like fonts and colors, you’ve created will be reset once you change over to a new template.

13 | FLEXIBLE D ES I G N T H AT W I L L G R O W W I T H YO U A N D S E T Y O U A P A R T. I hear a lot of people say the reason why they’re torn between WordPress and Squarespace is that the former allows for a totally customized site. And I get that!

Some people place a high priority on having a site that is unlike anyone else’s and has a bunch of fun bells and whistles. However, there are a lot of other business owners who are just starting out, or simply want a site that looks clean and will be easy to update as they grow. This is the hope I have for my Squarespace site.

Sure, a lot people are probably using the same template as me (which is Avenue, in case you were wondering), but I’m not at all worried about my site looking the same as someone else’s. As a matter of fact, in a business Facebook group I’m in, there was

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a discussion going on about who uses Squarespace sites. I found out that someone else in the group uses the same template as me, and you know what? They looks completely different!

Over the last year since launching my site, I’ve put a lot of time into evaluating what works best for my site, what I need to change, how I can make it more interesting or engaging, and how I can apply my unique branding to it. All of those things and the attention to detail will set your website apart from others, even if they may have the same template as you. And just because you don’t have a custom site, that doesn’t mean you’ll have to sacrifice quality and design.

You might be surprised by some big names who use Squarespace!

14 | OPTION FOR E-COMMERCE. For anyone who is a product-based business, Squarespace has the option to run an e-commerce site!

Though I haven’t personally used it, I imagine that it would be very straightforward to use, just like every other aspect of the platform.

Writing, publishing, and scheduling posts is very straightforward, and super quick once your content is ready to go. I draft my posts in Pages, design my post graphic in InDesign, gather any other visuals, and then plug all the information into a new draft. Once it’s ready to go, I schedule when I want it to be published. Plus, under the “Social” panel in the draft window, you can select the option to post on different social media channels as soon as you hit publish.

What the back end of blogging looks like when you’re drafting a post.

What the back end of blogging looks like when you’re drafting a post.

Well, those are my 15 reasons for loving Squarespace, and I think you’ll love it too. If you’re a business owner trying to navigate the big decision of what direction to go in for your website, I genuinely hope you found this helpful! Squarespace has been a game-changer for my business, and I know a lot of other business owners - from all different niches and markets - are making the switch to this simple to use but powerful platform.

15 | BLOGGING M A D E E A S Y. One of the reasons why decided to launch a website, besides serving as a portfolio and a way to grow my freelance business, was to write a blog full of content for creativepreneurs. Squarespace made my introduction to the world of blogging incredibly simple.

J. Smith is a graphic designer who loves spending time with her family. She’s passionate about big-hearted entrepreneurs reaching breakthrough. She resides in OK currently with her husband and two dogs.

Photo from Unsplash.com

DETAIL OF A FEW BILLS. WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE IF THOSE DIDN’T SCARE US AS MUCH AS THEY DO?

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ALL ABOUT MONEY WITH PACO DE LEON

How awesome would it be to be able to predict how much money you think your small business or freelance practice will earn each month, quarter or year? Pretty awesome, right?

You’re thinking, “But Paco, my business is totally seasonal.

There is no way I can predict it.”

And my response is, “You can.

But have to be willing to look at other data points you might not have been looking at before.” In other words, if what you’ve been doing hasn’t been working, you should change your methods.

PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

LET’S DIG IN.

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B E G O O D AT MARKETING OR B E R E A L LY G O O D AT T H E S E RV I C E YO U ’ R E P R OV I D I N G

PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

These are the first basic assumptions that you need understand and master in order to create predictable income. The income is a result of marketing or being fucking amazing at what you do or both. That’s a given, right?

So, if you’re really good at what you do, you might build a service business through word of mouth. I see this all the time. The marketing is done by your awesome work and other people who are so stoked on it that they can’t help but tell

other people about how awesome you are. So if you suck right now, do what you need to do to stop sucking. If you aren’t going to be the best, understand marketing and do that part well. Marketing fucking works, but if you can’t deliver after you land the client, in the long run there is a good chance you won’t have a solid, successful business. In my opinion, predictable income in a service business first hinges on a solid service and good marketing. Once you stop sucking at both the service you’re providing and at marketing, here are some things you can do to create consistent revenue so you can chill the fuck out about money.

SMOOTH OUT LUMPY CASHFLOW WITH A SOLID BILLING METHOD One of my biggest problems in life is my desire to avoid conflict.

It’s so pervasive, that I used to let clients pay me late or get creative with their payment schedules for my annual retainer. And guess what? I had to take on a bigger portfolio of clients because my cash flow timing was crap. Taking on more clients meant more work.

And more work meant the quality suffered. It sucked for everyone involved. I’ve since had my come-to-Jesus moment and now, I have a straight-forward billing

THE (IN) FAMOUS NYC STREET

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methodology for all my longterm projects that makes sure I’m compensated on a schedule that works for my cashflow. If you’re a service provider, what is your current billing method and is it serving your cash flow needs? If not are there tweaks you can begin to

“HE RELIED SOLELY ON ONE REVENUE STREAM AND WHEN IT DRIED UP, HIS BUSINESS COULDN’T ADAPT QUICKLY ”

to hit your goals Let’s say Yusef the designer has been falling short of his income goals by $2,000 each month. And he has the bandwidth to work more. So Yusef started to examine his conversion rate. He noticed that 50% of his potential clients converted to clients. He also realized that $2,000 is the deposit required for new clients based

D EC R E A S E YO U R R I S K W I T H VA R I O U S REVENUE STREAMS

implement with each new client?

For example, requesting a 50% deposit for the fee upon signing.

Not only does this help with your cashflow, but it ensures that you’ll only work with clients who are serious about working with you.

C R E AT E A P I P E L I N E

BY U N D E R S TA N D I N G YO U R R AT E O F CONVERSION How many clients go from potential clients to paying clients? That’s your conversion rate. For example, if 1 out of every 4 prospects becomes a client, that’s a 25% conversion rate. If you have an understanding of what your conversion rate is, you’ll know how many potential clients you need to get in front of or sell to or have visit your website

off and now he has more new clients than he can serve. When this happens a pipeline of future clients is created. A pipeline allows Yusef and you to have predictable income. He knows that he’s booked solid over the next three months, so he can stop freaking out about money. If you can master this, your service business will have predictable revenue.

on the packages he was offering.

Yusef’s plan now is to get in front of two more potential clients a month (or more!) in order to close the gap in his income goals. Yusef has to come up with a marketing plan to meet more potential clients. Eventually his efforts pay

Once your service business is humming along with a full pipeline and a solid billing method, it’s time to consider other revenue streams.

Various revenue streams is a way to hedge your risk. Here’s what I mean: I met someone who had a lucrative practice of creating a certain type of advertisement using a certain type of technology. One year he was commissioned to make a shit ton of ads and he ended up making a shit ton of money. Unfortunately, the next year everything changed. The technology he was using became totally outdated, business dried up and he had to close up shop. He relied solely on one revenue stream and when it dried up, his business couldn’t adapt quickly enough to survive. What could you do to create at least one other revenue stream? What you choose to do will depend a lot on what you’re willing to do, what skills you have and how you want to leverage your skills.

PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

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Here are a few examples of multiple revenue streams: ANOTHER SERVICE.

“HE RELIED SOLELY ON ONE REVENUE STREAM AND WHEN IT DRIED UP, HIS BUSINESS COULDN’T ADAPT QUICKLY ” A F F I L I AT E MARKETING If managing people isn’t something you want to do, then providing more services isn’t a way for you to create a varied revenue stream. You could set up referral fee relationships.

PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

You can provide a different service.

For example, a designer that does branding, logo design and website design. One client may want all service while another client may only need website design. A photographer who does portraits, weddings and lifestyle photography. My personal example is the fact that I have a consulting firm and a bookkeeping agency.

Leveraging Labor. The designer in the example above can you bring on a junior designer to run point on smaller projects the way I bring on bookkeepers to do the bookkeeping. The big question here is would you want do to that?

By doing this, you are definitely going from solo freelancer to small business owner. You have to manage people. You own the work and you own the business. So you get to participate in all the upside when business is doing well, but you’re also totally in charge and totally responsible when things are bad. You take on all the risk.

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This means you get a fee when you refer business to someone. In the online world there is affiliate marketing. So a photographer who has a blog and recommends certain apps and software might get a fee each time someone buys the app.

And we’re all familiar with the Instagram influencer, right?

They post #ads on their ‘gram for a fee.

S E L L I N G A P R O D U C T. A thought leader can write a book.

A consultant can sell an online course. A band can sell apparel. A design agency can sell dad hats.

THE LIST GOES ON. If you sell your knowledge, you can host a workshop or earn revenue by speaking at conferences. Designers can sell templates or ready-made designs to a DIY consumer who can’t afford to hire them. If you sell art you can get royalties for your photographs or songs you’ve recorded. If you’re a connector of people, you can create a conference or a membership club type of thingy. If you create content or you’re a blogger, you forge content partnerships with other companies or create branded content for large corporations that need to

constantly churn out arti cles. You can sell one product or service directly to consumers, but then sell the process to other businesses.

Yes, all of this takes work up front and on going. Remember kids, there is no free lunch.

THE COST + BENEFITS OF SPLITTING FOCUS Putting effort into another line of business means you might have to shift focus from your current business. Writing a book or developing a new line of service will take a lot of upfront work.

But the benefits will help the business across all lines with overall business growth. The different revenue streams can help stabilize the business, especially if your industry is seasonal. Once you start having some predictable income, it gets easier to map out how you’d like to grow and expand.

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PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

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OUR F A V. NEWS READS

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JENNA PHOTOGRAPHING HER GIRLS AT HER C AMP WANDAWEGA R E T R E A T I N A U G U S T.

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With Jenna Kutcher To look back at the difference a year makes always makes me a little weak in the knees and teary eyed.

From going to a corporate juggling act while building a business, planning a wedding, training for a marathon, and attempting to sleep every once in awhile, I often wonder how the heck I managed. While out to coffee the other day, I was asked by some friends and clients how I handle the high workload during wedding season. I paused, laughed, and then said that I have a “village” of people who make it happen and let me do what I love best. Let me also say that I am ridiculously independent; heck, I struggle to ask for Drew’s help when I can’t open a stubborn salsa jar. Building a business was definitely a labor of love and something that kept me up late at night working on silly things like websites, contact forms, contracts, and expenses.

PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

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Slowly over time, I realized that running a business takes a ton of work… seriously people, if you are considering starting a photography business, understand that you do a heck of a lot more than just shoot.

As time went by I realized that I excelled in some areas of business ownership (thank you business degree) but loathed some of the others. Giving up control was a hard idea to comprehend, but I knew that handing over some of those responsibilities to trusted professionals would allow me to be able to focus on the things that I love doing, like napping and coffee dates. (Kidding, sort of.) One by one, I started finding people who I trusted to help me run my business and continue the growth. I found an accountant who happens to be conveniently down the road from me, they have worked with other photographers which gave me the

trust I needed to hand over the accounting side of things and free up a lot of time (and questions!)

Wrench Apel Associates have saved my life on numerous occasions… for real.They coached me through all of the legal guidelines for running a business and consulted me on many different ways to stay on top of finances while getting up and running. I honestly could kiss their feet for all they have done for me (and I’ve even told them this!)

They are professional, have saved me oodles of time and money, and have helped me navigate the scary waters of the legalities that could keep me up at night.

PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

As my business continued to build (at break neck speeds) I knew that if I wanted to continue to grow, I needed help. Help is a word that kind of gives me that crappy lump in my throat because that is how much I hate asking for it.

ACCOUNTING

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GRAPHIC DESIGN From the beginning I knew the importance of branding, after numerous business classes I knew that I needed to brand right the first time. Enter the fabulous Eva Black Design – a graphic designer based in California who happens to be one of my best friends sisters.

She was still in school at the time and welcomed my project with open arms. She captured my vision, followed my lead, and produced so many gorgeous logos and designs that I knew she would be my

“I DON’T STAY UP UNTIL 3AM ANYMORE AND MY IMAGES HAVE NEVER LOOKED BETTER BECAUSE I AM STILL SO IN LOVE WITH MY JOB AND NOT BURNT OUT IN THE LEAST.” designer for life (whether she liked it or not!) She is extremely talented and her taste level is top notch. Just because I own Photoshop and could create my own logo didn’t mean I was a designer, I knew I needed someone’s professional eye and editing to make me fall in love with my brand. Eva continues to do all of my graphic work for me and I am so incredibly thankful I found her from

the beginning. Since graduating she has taken off working on amazing projects and continuing to produce all kinds of lovely things.

SECOND SHOOTING For my first year of business I shot about 90% of my weddings entirely on my own – yes, I am super surprised by my confidence too, but I worked it and it was great. Thus, enabling me to feel comfortable enough to shoot alone. This year I decided that I wanted to have a consistent second shooter who could accompany me on my double header wedding weekends, bigger weddings, or for the clients requesting to have an additional set of hands. I wanted someone consistent who could read my eyes from across the room and seamlessly fit in with my clients and their families. Enter: Kara Reese, the sweetest 21 year old I have met who happens to be a talented family and newborn studio photographer and a bride to be. She has been a blessing to have with me from grabbing gear, carrying bags, and shooting all kinds of beautiful images that round out each album. It has been so fun spending weekends laughing, driving, and shooting with her. I am so thankful I found her and have her with me for the summer fun.

OUTSOURCING EDITS This was the hardest thing for me to let go of… for real, I swore it off as not being an option. Slowly after learning from some of the

famous photographers who I idolize, I learned that I didn’t go into this job to be chained to my computer for weeks on end. I want to shoot more and edit less and thus enters Beaupre Edits LLC, an amazing lady who happens to live in Minnesota (woo!) and who also loves to edit images. She matches my style absolutely seamlessly (even I can’t tell the difference between her images and mine) and allows me to turn around my galleries quicker while still maintaining top notch quality. I finally realized that this was a move I needed to make for my life and my business when I glanced at my wedding schedule and realized that it was non stop every weekend for six straight months. I edit all of the images that appear in my blog and slideshow and send Andrea anything I need a hand with. I have a new lease on life this year, you guys, I am able to enjoy summer while also working hard. I don’t stay up until 3AM anymore and my images have never looked better because I am still so in love with my job and not burnt out in the least.

JENNA resides in WI with her pups and husband, while traveling to Hawaii and back to see their condo. She’s a podcaster, educator, and six figure business owner with an entire team on her side. She loves mac n’ cheese and prides herself on being real and downto-earth with every customer.

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BREAKIN’ DOWN TWO EDITING STYLES ...and how to stand out as a lifestyle photographer through editing

BY MATHIEU LOUISSEIZE AND ANN WEN Top photo by Wyn Wiley (style: desaturated, film vintage ) Bottom photo by Brandon Werth (style: modern, poppy, and colorful)

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WE ALL KNOW HOW IMPORTANT BRANDING IS FOR A PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS. One of the keys to that is being consistent in your editing style.

At the moment, you may have noticed that there are more editing style options than you can shake a stick at, but if you really whittle it down to what’s trending—with bright and airy editorial, along with a plethora of others, lying somewhere in between—we feel the majority can be narrowed down into two camps: a vibrant and contrasty vs. vintage film look.

We have spent years flipping back and forth between these two styles. While we followed our hearts and started Green Tea Photography in the vibrant and contrasty look, we have realized that most photographers we hire to photograph us tend to be of the vintage film variety. We have found presets and filters that we love in that look, and yet when we are editing the photos that are dearest to our hearts, we’ve felt more connected with our vibrant and contrasty style.

The past few years have really had us going around in loops

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MODERN LOOK BRANDON WERTH

VIBRANT FILM LOOK

BY WYN WILEY

MUTED FILM LOOK BY JONAS PETERSON

and seriously evaluating which direction we wanted to take our brand, until we made a recent decision that blew our minds. But first, our subjective but significant “Which camp is the right one for you?” question. Let’s dive in to the elements you should consider.

LOOK & FEEL The biggest factor is choosing which style speaks to your heart.

Vibrant and contrasty results in richly vivid images that tend to pop with bold colors that are truer to life in an “enhanced reality” kind of way. Vibrant and contrasty results in richly vivid images that tend to pop with bold colors that are truer to life in an “enhanced reality” kind of way.Vintage film has a smooth, whimsical and romantic feel with colors that are muted and contrast that’s faded, often with added grain. Vintage film has a smooth, whimsical and romantic feel with colors that are muted and contrast that’s faded, often with added grain.

E M OT I O N A L I M PAC T This is the heart of an image.

Vibrant and contrasty tends to be ideal for strong portrayals of action, from exuberant laughter and sobbing tears to crowd-surfing brides and drunken, strippeddown groomsmen. Vintage film leans toward subtler and softer portrayals of love and emotion, such as cliffside portraits taken during golden hour or a hand shyly pushing hair to the side during a sweet interaction between a couple.

PROSPECTIVE CLIENT While by no means a definitive list, there seems to be a theme between the two styles.

Vibrant and contrasty often attracts large, traditional as well as glitzier weddings, most popular with luxury-oriented clients who are likely to party hard and celebrate with their family and friends in a palace-style hall or on the deck of a yacht. Vintage film usually draws outdoorsy world travelers who might be more into flower crowns than tiaras, intimate elopements on the edge of a mountain, or a sentimental backyard ceremony filled with DIY decorative touches and home-cooked food for a small group of friends and family.

RECOGNITION OF YO U R W O R K This is both important for putting food on the table as well as feeding our egos. Vibrant and contrasty is usually better for photo competitions where a series of photos is not taken into account but rather images are viewed and judged on their own individual merit. Vintage film seems to be preferred by blogs and publications that are looking for a consistency in look and feel as a whole.

SHOOTING STYLE Approaches to light, compositions and moments can be very different. Vibrant and contrasty composition and use of light need to be very clean and precise to

look professional and purposeful.

This can sometimes lead to images that look more rigid or possibly staged. Vintage film composition and use of light can be used more loosely. Imperfections (which may be shot purposefully) can give a raw and organic feel to an image.

T I M E & D I F F I C U LT Y EDITING Oh, here is a big one. Vibrant and contrasty can be more difficult to edit to make an image look good—and even more importantly, to not make an image look bad.

Editing pushes out blacks, whites, shadows, highlights, vibrancy, saturation, contrast and clarity to the limits. Everything navigates a very fine line between having a flat image and one that pops—and one that’s overdone. What one person perceives as a perfect balance of vibrancy and contrast could also be seen as a cheesy swamp pile of neon no-ness. Think about it: If your whites are a touch too high?

You blow out your highlights. If your blacks are too low? You’ll crush your shadows. The white balance has to be spot on for this style of editing or skin tones will look sickly. With the colors being pushed the way they are, be prepared to have to deal with the enhanced blue casts in shadows with multiple layers of brushes. Lots of tweaking and finetuning is needed, even with presets.

Vintage film, as compared to vibrant and contrasty, doesn’t necessarily require you to be as meticulous when it comes to

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from an overcast day. Individually, the photos can look spectacular, stand out and really pop, but in a series, it is much harder to get a common look and feel. This editing style pushes differences apart.

Vintage film, with its muted colors, faded contrast and middledwelling adjustments, is easier when it comes to achieving a more consistent look and feel. Dealing with diffused light in the morning and super bright, harsh sun in the afternoon can be editable to appear much more cohesive. With a less-than-accurate white balance being an artistic choice, you can lean everything toward the warm or cool side, and they can go together quite nicely. This editing style brings differences together.

So after all these considerations, which editing style did we choose? adjustments. It’s often possible to make a professional-looking image with just the click of a button after customizing a preset to your liking. Whites, blacks, shadows and highlights are all brought to the middle, so you rarely have to worry about blown exposure or crushed shadows. Colors and contrast are toned down and muted so you don’t have to tread the very fine line between grass that pops and grass that looks radioactive.

Grain is often welcome, and if the image doesn’t have perfectly crisp color values, it’s often for an artistic, emotional purpose.

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CONSISTENCY OF IMAGES Let’s talk about editing individual photos versus a series.

Vibrant and contrasty makes it almost impossible to get a common look and feel throughout an entire series of photos due to the very nature of this style. All elements of a photo and their differences are always being pushed to the extreme ends of the spectrum so a photo shot in strong, dynamic light will look totally different from a photo shot in diffused light—a photo with a warm colorcast from a tungsten light will look totally different from a photo with a cool colorcast

Both. We’ve recently decided to double-brand ourselves: Green Tea Photography for the vibrant and contrasty look, and Frosted Plum Studios for the vintage film look. We love and appreciate both of them too much to forego the other, and we wish to keep the style of our images consistent within their respective brand.

Who knows where this next phase will bring us, but we’re excited to see which routes will steer us as our adventure continues.

Thank you so much for reading through our process — we hope it inspires you as you continue to build your business.

NOTE FROM OUR EDITOR

PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

F ROM WREN

H E Y.

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with love,

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PHOTO FROM UNSPLASH.COM

What a joy to bring you this issue of SOVEREIGN. Edi non est, excepel enihil molorem ulparum es nis aut ini dolestio min nonse voles core et occaborum ipsaeperis sunt qui ut volenis eum quibusdam, qui coribus expelesci od et dolupta tatatium nones audit quaerchil id quissit dipid etur aut escium ea voluptatium lam, quunt rat.

OUR OFFICE RENO

SAY IT LOUDER

from issue

FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK our readers speak out

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— Jenn, San Jose

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Vendae nobis con porporis moloren dionecae omnim eos voluptasin pligent.

— Jenn, San Jose

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— Jenn, San Jose

— Jenn, San Jose

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— Jenn, San Jose

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Um consequos et vernamu scidusam sin enitatum, soluptatint que voloribus cuptaspe soluptatint que voloribus cuptaspe soluptatint que voloribus.

— Jenn, San Jose

— Jenn, San Jose

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— Jenn, San Jose

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— Jenn, San Jose Vendae nobis con porporis moloren dionecae omnim eos voluptasin pligent.

— Jenn, San Jose

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WITH HEY SWEET PEA! “How do you approach social media meaning fully & successfully? ”

Social media is so fake, they always say...

And when I hear that, it always makes me cringe (because I passionately disagree).

Something I've realized over the years, is that life is hard for everyone. In different ways, of course … but there are battles we are all fighting, obstacles we are all overcoming, fears we are all facing. So when I see pretty pictures posted and happy stories shared, I am deeply moved. Not because someone's life is better, or cooler, or more blessed than mine. But because despite the wars they are facing, they are choosing to find beauty in it. And despite their battle scars, they are sharing the blessing they've still found.

Which is why I want to encourage you, dearest entrepreneur, to approach social media as a place of community and connection, not competition or comparison.

Focus on impact over numbers.

Focus on people over perfection.

Focus on giving more than selling.

Approach this beautiful space as an opportunity to be seen and to see others. Use it as an opportunity to celebrate with a stranger. Use it as an opportunity to encourage a follower. Use it as an opportunity

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to share the stories you’re ready to share.And then, take these to heart: They want to see the world through your eyes. Your followers want to hear what you think, what you believe, and what you know. They’re not hoping and wishing you were someone you’re not. They’re waiting and wanting to know the person you already are.Everything you’ve experienced is already a story. Your whole life is full of mistakes made, lessons learned, successes achieved, and life lived. You’re truly a walking storybook, and the secret to creating irresistible content is sharing the stories that mean something to you and that deeply resonate with them. What you share can help others (and draw them closer still).

The words you write, the pictures you share, and the messages you spread all have the power to greatly affect those who follow you. So when you pour your time and love into the content you create, people can feel it. And when they can feel that you care, they’ll want to be a part of what you do next. Never be afraid of giving it all away.There’s no such thing as giving too much to your followers. Because the more you give, the more they’ll understand what you do, why you do it, and who you do it for. So don’t think of your knowledge as “secrets” to be kept, but as gifts to be shared (and a preview of the goodness you’re actually selling).

Always create for the lovers, not the haters. Whenever you’re writing captions, or taking photos, or making videos, always create with your dream clients in mind.

Don’t worry about unsubscribes, or unfollows, or being everything to everyone. Instead, focus on creating for the kindred spirits who adore you (and who you adore in return). Do everything you do for them. And that, my friend, is why I love social media. It’s why I’ll go to bat for your pretty pictures, your happy moments, and your blessing among the ashes. Because yes, life is hard and messy and complicated. But every time we find the good, or share how we've overcome the bad, we’re inspiring countless others to do the same.

From my heart to yours: Thank you for letting goodness win.

Elise & Scott Grice are lead branding strategists who teach the e-course My Own Irresistible Brand. They currently live in Florida after spending a year on the road. They transformed their business from a servicebased business into an online branding school online.

ELIZABETH ARDEN

ENTREPRENEUR FROM HISTORY / FEATURE OF THE MONTH

She brought makeup from the stage to everyday life and slowly developed a global empire.

Elizabeth Arden, born Florence Nightingale Graham in Woodbridge, Ontario, moved to New York at the age of 30 to pursue her dream of building a cosmetics corporation. There she began working with a chemist to create a beauty cream, something new for the cosmetics

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industry at that time. After traveling to Paris in 1912, Arden became the first person to introduce the concept of eye makeup to American women and offered the first makeovers in her 5th Avenue salon.

Arden died in 1966, but her brand became as wellknown across the U.S. as Singer sewing machines and Coca-Cola. At the end of its fiscal year in June 2007, the company reported $1.1 billion in net sales, up more than 18 percent from $955 million in 2006.