Kia Bondurant – Episode 001 – A Photographer Podcast Interview

From Nothing to Profit

In Episode 001 we interview Kia Bondurant. Kia Bondurant has been a full time professional portrait photographer for over 20 years. With her experience of owning a large successful business and recently starting a new portrait studio from scratch, she wants to share HOPE for the photography industry! One of the first things we talk about is what seniors are looking for today. You may be surprised at what she is seeing. A really neat thing Kia does each year is she has three words for the studio. This helps guide her in decisions for what she is going to do each year. Listen in to hear what three words she picked for 2018. This is such a simple task that you can do to grow your business. Next, we talk about why you should and should not copy other photographers. Tune in to see what Kia thinks is the difference. If you are new to the industry, Kia talks about how new photographers should value their work and time. Some really great tips here. If you have had a business for a while, listen as Kia talks about what it takes to hire people and why it is important. Books Kia Recommends: EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey (http://a.co/d/iwLnXkV) E-Myth by Michael Gerber (https://amzn.to/2Qhdmqh) Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Cloud and Townsend (https://amzn.to/2R2o6tT) Link Kia’s Giveaway Coming Soon Read Full Transcript TRANSCRIPTION: Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it's an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video. Intro: 00:00 Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer's podcast with Matt and Kia where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster. Everybody. Welcome to episode one, Matt: 00:17 Kia Bondurant. Today Kia Bondurant has been a full time photographer for 20 years. She has experience in owning a very large studio and recently starting a new brand new portrait studio from scratch and I know from speaking with her in the past that she's always trying to bring hope to the photography industry and I know she will today. One of the first things we talked about is what are seniors looking for today and I think you'll be surprised what she's seen and she has some really great tips if you're new to the photography business and you want to figure out how to value your work and your time, and she also has some great tips for people that have been around for awhile in terms of hiring new people and why it's important to have a staff. So let's jump right in it. Kia: 00:56 Yeah, I thank you Matt for asking me to do this. I have wanted to share more often and in a more structured way, like a podcast for quite a long time and I just was too nervous to make it happen myself. So when you asked and gave me the opportunity, I was super excited. There's so much that we can give back to the industry and to help make the industry better in the future and so I can't wait. Can't wait. Matt: 01:22 Sure, I agree. I mean you've been in the industry for 20 years and I've been in the industry for 11 years and I just think there's so many photographers out there that, you know, feel alone and really could use some expertise from people that have kind of been through what they're going through now and just kind of maybe give them the shortcut or just given us some really solid advice on what they should be doing in their business. So let's jump right in real quick. So if I were to introduce you to somebody, how would you, what would you say you would be? You're known for in the industry or you know, what are people, when they think of your brand, what do they think of Kia: 01:54 in the photography industry? I would say that I'm kind of known in two ways. The first definitely is senior portraits and fashion inspired senior ...