Back in November, I decided I needed to take one step further into making myself, my business and the photography industry better by offering mentor meetings. I was a little nervous about offering these meetings because I wasn’t sure if anyone would actually be interested in learning from me! I also knew, and still know, that I don’t have all the answers. What would I do if I met with someone and they asked me a ton of questions that I didn’t have an answer for?? What if they didn’t get anything out of the meeting?? I had a lot of people asking for advice and eager to learn, so I knew it was time to move past the seemingly natural insecurities and give back to this wonderful industry of professional photography!

I’ve had a wonderful response so far, with Kassandra being the first photographer to sign up! I met with her in October for a portrait session for she and her husband so it was nice to start the mentor meetings with a familiar face. She emailed me a list of topics she wanted to discuss and I mapped out a game plan for our meeting. We talked about tackling wedding photography, branding, web presence, file back-up, equipment, and workflow in 2.5 hours…and we probably could have talked for another hour! I loved sharing my good and bad experiences with Kassandra and providing some positive feedback on what she’s done so far for her business and what she plans to do for the future. It sounds like her next moves will be to invest in another camera body, do some more experimenting with Lightroom and work on her blog! I think those are all great steps in taking her business to the next level!

Even though we ran over the discussion time, we still went outside for some shooting! It was very cold and very wet, but there was snow falling and snow on the ground, so we couldn’t pass up the beautiful backdrop!

I just LOVE these black and white ones!!!

Kassandra, thanks a million for signing up for a mentor meeting! I am flattered that you trusted me when it came to investing in your business. I hope you learned a lot from our meeting and I hope you’ll find yourself taking steps to improve your business and photography skills! I’ll be anxious to chat with you again in the future and see what you’ve been up to. 🙂

If you’re interested in a mentor meeting, shoot me an email at jessica@jessicafikephotography.com. I’m currently booking meetings for February and March and would love to have you if you’re interested in investing in your business OR HOBBY (remember, you don’t need to have or want to start a business to do a mentor meeting) with some one-on-one learning!