Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to Unscripted SEO. I am Zanetta Chiniquen Power and I am very, very excited to speak to Leslie Lane here from Studio 13, all the way from Indianapolis, Indiana. Hello. How are you doing?
[00:00:17] Speaker B: I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me today.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Thank you for your time. I am very excited to chat with you to learn a little bit more about your business.
And so again, welcome.
Now I hear you are the Boss over at Studio 13, so tell me a little bit more about that.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: I am. I am the co founder, the founder and the lead photographer for Studio 13. It's been a long journey. I'm a third generation photographer, but only the second generation to do corporate and commercial photography. We've been in business, my parents, that would put us a long time ago. But me, I've been doing this since the 1990s. I came in when I was 23 years old and have been doing this kind of work ever since.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Wonderful. So you mentioned that you are third generation. Did you have a choice or was it something that you were nurtured to do?
[00:01:13] Speaker B: I did have a little bit of a choice, but I had a camera in my hand from the time I was six and so I kind of knew that that's what I was going to do. But there came a time when I was going to quit. I had actually written my letter of resignation to my parents, which is hysterical of course, at this particular time in my life. But my stepfather had a stroke and he never came back to receive my letter of resignation. And so that's why I'm still here today.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: So it got lost somewhere. It did.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: It got lost in translation. Yeah.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, I'm glad that you are still working in this space because photography is such a beautiful art form. It is a way that we can somehow try to capture the beauty that we see with our eyes through the lens of a camera. So you mentioned that you have a specific niche. So tell me more about the types of photography that you specialize in right now.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: Yeah, we work with brands only B2B, so that we can help them get their subject out, whether it's a product, whether it is a financial advisory firm that wants to promote transparency and honesty and integrity. So whatever that message is to a company's public, whoever that is, that's what we try to translate through photography. So we do it for websites, we do it for ads, magazines, brochures, whatever they need to get their message out. So we don't work in the wedding space, the family, the senior portraits. We don't do any of that. We only work B2B.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: So what is the on ramp for someone who may be a photographer that wants to venture into more B2B photography? I know you mentioned more portraiture.
So what is that ecosystem like and expertise? How do you go from, you know, senior pictures to brand photography?
[00:03:03] Speaker B: Right. It's a little bit different. And in fact, some people say that it's almost impossible to get into, but I really don't feel that it is.
So photography as a business is just so different than other companies because you can have a hobbyist who does it on the weekends or at night and they make good side money. You can have a solopreneur. So one person that does all the shooting and all the editing, that's where it gets a little wishy washy in there about making a profit because there's nobody selling.
And then like what we do, where I have a business with multiple associates doing multiple things to keep the pipeline full. So the difficulty with corporate photography is if you're that solopreneur and this is your full time job, somebody's got to be out selling. Then if you're selling, you're not shooting and if you're shooting, you're not editing. And so all of that makes it very difficult to keep that pipeline flowing in a way that is sustainable to support a family and a life and all of those things. And so I have been a solopreneur. I never was a hobbyist because the family and then where I'm at now, where it is actually a thriving business for multiple people to work. So it's just a unique way. And so if you're trying to do it as a hobby, you can't work Monday through Friday.
You've got to work on the weekends and at nights, where in portrait wedding photography, you can work Monday through Friday and still do portrait wedding on nights and on weekends. So that's kind of the difference in how it runs as far as people doing it as a business rather than a hobby.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, congratulations for not being a solopreneur because you do wear all the hats and there may be 36 hats and all of them fit at some point in time during the day or the week.
So it is most certainly a hustle. But you having the generational expertise and support is wonderful. So what are you looking to do now in this chapter of your business?
[00:05:10] Speaker B: Well, it's interesting because my mom is alive, thriving, and still very much a part of my daily life. And so she says to me, sometimes she goes, you know, you're wearing me out. You're, You're. I can't even keep up with you anymore. But for those solopreneurs out there, part of what's happened to me is that by having people come alongside, they're all 1099 employees, whether it's administrators or editors or social media people, I can now focus on strategy and sales and the photography. So I do have other photographers, but my most profitable portion of the business is when I produce. And so there's got to be a happy medium so that I can look towards the future.
So our website has become something of an educational piece, both photographically and we've been now building marketing into that, because everybody that buys from me is a marketer or an advertising person, whether it's within the company or an ad agency. And so I've been enlisting clients and friends to write educational articles to my client.
Why you might need market research, that's a topic that my clients might want to read. And then why is print not dead in a digital world? Those are articles that we're putting on our website that were my brainchild of how to get people to the site without just selling photography. And So I think CEOs, and even if it's small business CEOs, you have to make sure you're not producing so much that you can't sell, think and strategize. And so for me, I'm looking into that future of scaling the business up, getting it from me doing 75% of the producing, getting me down to about 50% of the producing so that I can keep the wheels rolling and get this business to be ready for the next five years.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: And that's really relevant. You mentioned around you focusing on strategy and growing the business.
As an entrepreneur myself, that is always just what I want. I just want to run the business and allow other pieces to either be delegated or automated. Right. And so there's a book that I read, it's called E Myth Mastery. And essentially that book is around how can an entrepreneur build themselves out of the business so that it exists without the sweat of their brow? 24 7. So it sounds like that's exactly what you're working on.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: That is what I'm working on. Because when my stepfather was taken out of the business, there was no one that could do what he did. And so, I mean, there was a huge gap. I was 23 years old. I didn't know anything.
And they had real specific roles in the business.
And mom and my stepdad went out at the same time because she was caring for him. So it was a double whammy. So as I get this business going to where I want it, it's obviously going, it's been around for a long time, but, but as I start to look to the second part of my career, somebody's gotta be able to step in. Somebody's gotta be able to do what I do both photographically and business wise. So yes, you're exactly right.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, I think even something as simple as SOPs, it may not be front of mind when you are trying to manage clients and make sure again, as you said, that pipeline is full, but there will be a time where you, you may want to have margaritas in Cancun and trust that Studio 13 is doing exactly what needs to be done.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: Yeah, and I was really fortunate.
I've had a series of sadnesses happen in my life, but I'm a firm believer that difficulties breed success. You don't really get successful by all the times you succeed. It's mostly when you stumble a little bit. And I did have a right hand person that I lost unexpectedly. She passed away on a very short battle with cancer. And my daughter stepped in and she said, mom, it is time that we change this business. You've been working too hard. You're going to work yourself into the ground. And so she came and set up my SOPs for me and we started talking about all the different roles that I wanted to have in my business. And every time I'd come up with a harebrained idea, she'd have another SOP for me to read and it just keeps rolling like that. So even though she's left the business, she set it up for my new administrator so that she knows when I come up with an idea, don't let it drop, you know, keep, keep her moving on it. And so you're exactly right. We got the SOPs. I've got legal contracts with my, my employees, I've, I've got everything ready to start educating the next person. So.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: And I think a lot of solopreneurs are just, you know, smaller firms across all industries are more openly adopting AI agents for that exact resource. You know, how can I add a little bit more brain power to create documents and systems and automations that enable me to take a step back? So as you are looking to continue to expand your company into the future, what are some technological advances, whether it be AI agents or some changes in the way that photography is, how has technology impacted your space right now?
[00:10:30] Speaker B: Well, it's actually two different subjects. Here we've got the subject of how technology's changed at the last, I'd say five years. And then AI is a separate. Yeah, sort of a separate entity. But we'll start with the fact that the past five years have seen some amazing changes in cameras. So things that I would have never guessed 10 years ago, the ability to set the camera where you want it to focus so that, you know, cameras slip people, people think that autofocus is perfect. It is not. But now that there's no mirror in the camera, now that it is recording directly onto the sensor, it's amazing how sharp and crisp. And you can spend more time talking to your subjects or more time slightly setting your product. You don't have to worry about that critical focus as much because the pro, the program's in the camera. So that is a new technology also, very strangely, which I haven't used it because I have no need. But if you capture an image in the back of the camera and it's too small, the camera can process it for you to make the file larger. And so that is, it can take it up to a full terabyte. And I'm like, who needs that? But some people might.
So that's that. And then Photoshop has been full of AI for years. Full of it. It's just gotten one step better. And what I tell everybody about Photoshop is that the more we use it, the more we use the AI, the more it gathers information about what people need, the better it's going to get. So that's the terrifying part, is that all computers are going to get smarter as we use them for these type of purposes. But it certainly has.
It has enhanced me behind the camera while still expediting my processing. So the client does not want to wait two weeks for images. It's just not even part of the corporate world. And so now I can be faster and I can have different types of editing that I offer the client, all making me more irreplaceable, hopefully to the client. So that's that side of it. The AI side of it is quite interesting because obviously you can now make images out of nothing.
It looks like you're making images out of nothing, but that's not the point for me. In my business, I am not seeing AI take over quickly yet.
So people are still wanting to genuinely look like themselves when they're being presented to their audience.
Most of who I work with, though, lawyers, doctors, financial advisors, accountants, people that need to be know, liked and trusted. They need to be authentic. And so I think that that's part of why it's slowing just a touch in that part of my industry.
The other part of it is like architectural work and product photography. So product photography, the retailers are pushing back against AI So they don't want the packaging to be fake. They feel like it's not truthful. So that's that architectural. That's another thing, a little bit. So we shoot a lot of buildings, but they've got renderings. And all of a sudden the renderings look an awful lot like a photograph. And so that's where I'm kind of seeing that blurry line is in the architectural world right now. So it'll be a minute for us to figure out where that's going. But certainly AI has a place in photographic businesses. And if you're not embracing it and you're not learning it, you're going to fall behind.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: Interesting. I was actually looking at a business of a rendering of an apartment building yesterday, and I was having a converse a real estate conversation.
And naturally you will look to see the real picture once the building is done. I don't want to see another rendering of the rendering.
So it's really relevant that you said that. And I work in marketing as well. And so there's a lot of excitement around Dolly and Mid Journey and all these things for product fun. Product photography is just still of a disconnect that I think is going to cause a differentiation between how far we're allowed to take that in effort to better connect with people. There's going to be a catalyst to where I believe that people are going to still want the real thing.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: I hope you're right. Until I can retire. I hope you are so right.
Yeah.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: It's so funny. I saw a friend create a video and it's actually for a party. It was an event, but everyone was. It was the AI video.
Was it? Is this a virtual party?
Because I don't want to hang out with robots.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: Well, and I think, like I said, I think there's a place for it because I saw somebody take a wedding picture where the bride and groom wanted to be married in Paris. So they just laid the Eiffel Tower into it. That's great. They like it. They have a print of it in their house. Go for it. But that's kind of where I see it in my industry right now. Everything's changing. Everything's changing quickly. But I agree with you. I think authenticity is going to become more and more marketable because people want to see it for real.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: What is something that you would say to photographers who are growing into this space? What would be your advice or mentorship? Words of mentorship to aspiring photographers looking to do the work that you do.
[00:15:53] Speaker B: Get away from the computer.
You cannot build a business behind a computer. In photography, in commercial photography, you have to go out there and meet people, you have to network. It's what most photographers hate to do the most and it's what you have to do. I have been building these relationships for 30 years, but really more like 20 years once my kids got old enough that I could be out there in the world.
And nothing yet that I have seen has replaced those face to face conversations.
Building friendships so that when you find out that you need photography, you think of me.
That's all that it is, is that if you're behind a computer, you're forgettable. Social media does not pay a huge part in my business. I think it is an element of my marketing. Certainly we're on all kinds of platforms just to remind people, but it's when I go to my networking events, it's when my salesperson goes to the networking events that people say, oh, you know what, I was just talking to somebody about that.
We've got to make an impression, we've got to make an impact. And that's where we do it is when we're building friendships and relationships out in the business community.
[00:17:07] Speaker A: So since the world is so highly digital, how are, what would you say is the best way to find those experiences? Is it your local chamber?
Are there other partners in the industry?
Where is the best place to start?
[00:17:23] Speaker B: So what people don't think about is they think about where do I find other photographers? You don't want to find other photographers. You want to go where the photographers aren't going. And so I've made some mistakes in my networking over the years because you don't know where to go find your customers.
So one of the places that I found that was just absolutely phenomenal and it is a nationwide group is Women in Commercial Real Estate. So I shoot headshots for commercial real estate. I shoot buildings and interiors and exteriors, landscape architecture, all of those things. Well, all the women come together at the Women in Commercial Real Estate. They have them all across the country. Crew Network, it's worldwide actually. Crew Network is a great place to start. If that's one of your spaces, go find your space. If you need people in facilities, ifma, you know, that's the international facilities management. If you want to just do plain old real Estate, like apartments, Irem, there's all kinds of places. Boma, business owners, you know, where are you going to get your customers? Go to where they are.
[00:18:30] Speaker A: Yeah, that is excellent advice. As a marketer, I go to marketing events for other things, but not for clients.
Not for clients. It's too competitive and that just doesn't make sense. So this is very good advice is to network interchangeably within the industry. So that is very wise.
Awesome. So what would you envision to be the next steps for you in the future of Studio 13, considering everything that we've said, networking, digital, AI. You know, what is a perfect world for you and your business moving forward?
[00:19:09] Speaker B: Well, there is no perfect world, unfortunately. But I am currently working a lot in higher education, and so that gives me the opportunity to speak to young people. One of the other places that I have invested my time is I'm on the alumni board of directors for my alma mater, for Butler University.
And so through them and through their business school, I met a young photographer who was graduating who wanted for me to mentor them. And so I said yes. I think saying no is important, but I also think being available for the yes is also important.
I also have been shooting at Ivy Tech here, that's a Indiana school, as well as the University of Indianapolis. Both of those have given me opportunities to meet young people and to actually bring some of them into my business. So I want to continue to mentor and help young people by either hiring them or mentoring them. And then my goal is that within the next 10 years, I would sure love to cultivate my successor. I do not have a child coming behind me that wants to do this.
I think young people bring so much spunk and energy into a business.
I am grateful for all the experience I have. I am old enough to know what I'm doing and young enough to be relevant. So I'm grateful for that. But I would love in the next five years to get a spark of a young person who wants to really dig in and be my apprentice. That would be great.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: I love that. And it is reminiscent of the concept of Sankofa, and that is reaching as we climb and as you continue to even excel and deepen your expertise. Teaching young people is exactly the symbiotic relationship that enables the industry to improve because you, they are learning from the best.
That's really cool.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: I just think helping others, I mean, as much as I try to cultivate clients, I'm also looking for ways to help others and refer others. So I'm just a firm believer that this world is hard enough. If there's something great we can do for somebody else, for goodness sakes, do it. Don't even wait.
[00:21:16] Speaker A: And that is a beautiful note. To conclude our interview. I am really, really happy that I've had this opportunity to get to know more about Studio 13.
And yes, if there's anything that I can do for you or if our listeners are interested in learning more about you, where can they find you?
[00:21:36] Speaker B: We're on the Internet, studio13online.com. That's the website with the whole portfolio and all of our educational pages. You can also reach us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and then I am personally on LinkedIn as well. So all the places.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, this was wonderful. Leslie, it was a pleasure to meet you and happy shooting.
[00:21:58] Speaker B: Thank you so much and thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: No problem.
Bye.
Here we go.
