This weeks business spotlight is Jodie from Jodie Greck Photography. Jodie is located on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia so if you are located there then make sure to check out her work, it really is beautiful.

I’ll leave you with an image of Jodie’s and here is her interview for you to read. I will announce the winner of the product competition towards the bottom of this post.

Question One: What made you decide to start a business and how did you start this journey of owning your own business:

Good question philly ) Ive always had a passion for photography & art, as a teenager I was always posing my 2 yr old siblings against walls with a bike of some sort come to think of it, I was that obsessive with it all that everyone would roll their eyes at me hahahha..

I’d have to say though in all seriousness that it really started for me when I had my own children about 5 yrs ago.. I eventually bought my 1st SLR which was a Cannon 400d (love that camera) and just continually shot images of my Baby and Tott’s.

Family & friends saw the images I took of my boys & asked wether I would take images of their children -where it all snowballed from there )

I continually sourced out Photography blogs and forums to learn anything & everything I could to develop this passion I had into a profession. I also did 2 online workshops through Sheye Rosemeyer which really helped me grasp the functions of my camera & how to apply these in our surrounding environments..

I am a HANDS on person Not a book reader I would of never have passed uni ” haha” – So after about 2 yrs of doing all these things – Jodie Greck Photography evolved & here we are today!!

Question Two: Tell us about your business and what you offer.

I am a natural Light photographer I specialise in newborn photography, tott’s photography & wedding photography!
I offer unique photographic sessions with my clients & cater to each individuals needs.. I have never had 2 sessions that were in any way similar!
Jodie Greck Photography  offers  ” relaxed, stylish, & modern portraiture to those individuals looking for a unique experience )

The style of products we have on offer are “stylish boutique products ” which all my clients are proud to display in their homes.
I order these boutique products from the states as I haven’t found the quality & style that I love over here in Australia, this also allows me to offer the products at reasonable prices.

Question Three: Have you faced any challenges and in what way do you think this has helped you and your business grow?

I would have to say confidence was a big issue at the beginning phase of my business… But once I put my business out their & begun producing consistent products & services to my clients,
my business took off in leaps & bounds as customers would reconfirm this to all their friends & family & business associates.

Word of mouth advertising is much more powerful than any print advertisement as it has been an experience for someone to share..

Question Four: What is your biggest goal you wish to achieve with your business in the next 5 years?

The biggest goal would be to have the business take off even further to have this passion of mine turn into a full time venture as my sole income provider.

Working from home part – time in the studio that my husband & I have built from scratch has been my dream come true- I can’t really ask for any more in regards to the direction  that Jodie Greck Photography has headed .. However we plan to make that dream even BIGGER!!!

Question Five: If you could give one piece of advice to someone starting a business what would you tell them?

I would tell them to think carefully about BRANDING their business I would advise not to get a pre-made logo or branding that they see that they  will only be happy with for now , ask will your business outgrow that brand? However if you do decided to go with the pre-made branding be sure that you will be happy with that brand for the duration of your business.

This way you are not changing your look, you are keeping consistency within your business & customers value consistency in a business which they will invest in…

I totally believe in having a graphic designer that understands your wishes for your business & works hard with you in having a brand that describes your business visually across the board – I have a graphic designer that has worked with me to get my my consistent branding & I just LOVE it!!!

I am very pleased to announce today’s winner of the complimentary product photography! This will entitle them to a session with Sweet Chilli Photography for their products/business and to 10 digital negatives on CD which can be used for marketing for your business. I haven’t included the comments that aren’t for business when I counted.

Anyway I am so excited to announce that Labs ‘n Life have won the competition for this package! I look forward to meeting this business and to see what we can come up with in the future!

Thanks so much to everyone that has entered the competition, you all have wonderful business and I wish I could photograph all of them!

Instead I am offering a special introduction package for business. You can have a session with Sweet Chilli Philly Photography for $100 and can purchase digital negatives for your marketing for $45 per file (This is strictly for businesss only) Feel free to email me at ssmoke@adam.com.au for further information. This special is valid September 31sr.

Just a reminder to all previous clients from January 2010 onwards that I am in the process of purging my file storage to make room for the second part of the year for new clients and my new pricing structure.

I am allowing previous clients the opportunity to purchase their full session on CD for $300.  From the 17th of June 2010 I will be deleting all old client files so if you would like to take this opportunity to purchase your files please let me know ASAP so that I can put you on the list. If payment is not received by the 17th then I will assume that you do not wish to purchase the files and all files will be removed.

Please email me at ssmoke@adam.com.au to let me know…

Many thanks

Phillippa (Philly)

Thanks to everyone that took the time to enter my competition, I have been totally overwhelmed by the entries so much so that I have decided to give away two prizes!

First prize goes to… Alana Perks! Congratulations! You have won a free session along with two 8×12 prints!

2nd prize is another free session with 1 8×12 print goes to Donna Hill! Congratulations!

Once again congratulations and thanks to everyone that entered! For those that won can you please email me at ssmoke@adam.com.au to claim your prizes.

Thanks

I would like to welcome you to the new look Sweet Chilli Philly Photography! This has been a long time coming and I really couldn’t have done it without the wonderful Netra who worked tirelessly on my logo and cute little animals that will now be apart of my branding and marketing material.

I hope you love the fresh new look as much as I do!

Feel free to leave a comment below with some feedback if you like, I would love to know what you think!

So I’m without my camera at the moment due to it being in being cleaned and serviced ( I feel so lost without it!) so just thought I would do a quick blog post of recent fave photo that I took. I had a friend over with her two boys the other day and snapped this one of her youngest. Isn’t he adorable…sometimes a photo isn’t about getting the smiles but more about the story in the photograph and the emotion…

The good things about my two boys is how well they get along together (although sometimes they do have their moments) but most of the time they play so well together and occasionally get into mischief as well! Their latest thing is to hang upside down on the couch and think it’s a great laugh to do!

And just a gorgeous shot of my two boys, it’s very rare for me to be able to get them in the same photo as usually Ethan doesn’t want to sit still although Tristan has been pretty good for me lately.

To welcome the new year I am offering a special to my fans of my facebook page.

Once Sweet Chilli Philly Photography reaches 450 fans (only four more to go!) I will give the first person that comments on the new status a $50 discount to use for their photography session.

Once SCPP reaches 500 fans I will give a $100 discount and maybe even once we get a to a higher fan base I will give an even bigger discount.

So join my fan page: Sweet Chilli Philly Photography and don’t forget to suggest the page to all your facebook friends.

Discount only applies to those that live in Adelaide.

Happy New year!

Don’t forget that Sweet Chilli Philly Photography is now on Facebook! A great way to keep up with sneakpeeks as well as all my current specials! Feel free to share the link with friends and family, the more fans the merrier!

Sweet Chilli Philly Photography | Promote your Page too

Also don’t forget you have only until October 31st to take part in my Newsletter Madness special where you can receive $100 off! Sessions MUST be booked by this ending date.

While in Sydney I attended an all day workshop put on by the Australian Community of Child Photographers and while at this workshop we had Netra (who is a very talented graphic designer and photographer) do a talk on marketing. One thing that did indeed stick with me (although there was alot of stuff that made me think) was this video that Netra showed us. So here it is for you to have a look, I’m sure I don’t need the words to explain it as I think it speaks for itself and is totally thought provoking.

The Evolution of Technology and the Human Race