The ability to connect with your clients can make your business succeed or fail. Not only is that connection necessary for booking clients in the first place, but it's also critical to creating a quality experience for them.

When building your offerings and packages, focus on creating an unforgettable service that your clients (or customers) will look back on and talk fondly about for years to come.

My friend Sarah demonstrates this so well. She is a couples and wedding photographer with a talent for making her clients feel like well-loved friends. Her personal touch in all aspects of her brand allow her couples to love each step of the process, too.

So I'm thrilled to have her join me for this week’s entrepreneur highlight!

Welcome, Sarah! It’s great having you join me on the blog today!

Share Your Story:

Introduce yourself and your brand!

Hi! I’m Sarah Lin, a couples and wedding photographer born and raised in Virginia and based in Chesapeake, VA. I’m a Jesus-loving, ESFJ, thrift shopping, ice-cream-aholic. I’ve had a camera in my hand since middle school, and have been running this business for 9 years! I’m still claiming to be newlywed; my husband Alvin and I celebrated two years of marriage this July! Before getting married we rocked long-distance for what felt like forever, and we are more than thrilled to simply commute between opposite sides of the bed. Our favorite show is The Office, and we spend wayyy too much time binging it on the couch. We love our church, board games, and swapping travel stories with friends over good food.

What’s the mission behind Sarah Lin Photography?

I’m a big believer in marriage. I believe in welcome home hugs and “good morning” bad-breath kisses. I believe in saying the good you see in one another, and not just thinking it. I believe that good marriages are built on prayer, and I want to be better about that in my own. And I know that relationships and love are not all butterflies and rainbows. Marriage requires grace and forgiveness and the understanding that love is just as much a choice as it is a feeling. And so I choose to honor that by capturing images that you can pull off a shelf on your darkest days and REMEMBER. Remember the promises you’ve made, the things you’ve been through, and the love you’ve shared.

So ultimately my prayer is that Sarah Lin Photography would honor the Lord by blessing couples with images to remind them of their love and joy for years and years to come. With each couples session I want my clients to walk away feeling like friends, and go home and makeout on the couch and have deep heart-to-hearts and love each other well because they were seen and celebrated for who they are. Oh—and have images to show for their session or wedding day that capture THEM—in all their goofy, playful, quirkiness!

How did you come to start your business?

Not overnight—that’s for sure! I started in high school with photoshoots with my friends in our backyards. Slowly people started paying me to capture their families and graduation photos. I kept photography in my back pocket throughout college—shooting the occasional wedding and again, lots of college grads. My business really took off when I got married. My husband Alvin spoke life into my dreams. He put money down and bought the expensive gear I was too afraid to take a chance on. He pushed me—HARD—and two years later I’m calling this my full-time job!

What makes you passionate about what you do?

People. I love pretty flowers and rings and the glitz and glamour of wedding days as much as anyone else, but I’ve found that if I don’t connect with the couple, then it all falls flat. My couples are awesome! They’re real people—best friends in love, not so sucked up in romance that they can’t handle the messes they both create, yet not so sedated by the mess that they can’t see how even their small moments hold the deepest joys. We laugh over Dwight & Jim’s prank wars (The Office), they introduce me to their favorite restaurants and coffee shops (and I show them my favorite ice cream places!), and they let me into some of their most private moments. It is truly an honor.

Client Connection + Experience:

You rock at connecting with your clients and creating an unforgettable experience for them! I’d love to explore this a bit:

You’ve written a wonderful About page that clearly describes your ideal client. How did you decide what types of couples you wanted to work with? And, then, how did you go about creating that connection through writing to make sure you resonate with and attract them?

Honestly? The template I used for my ideal bride and ideal groom was me and my husband. I started with us—our quirks and favorites and joys and wrote them all out. You know that saying “Your vibe attracts your tribe?” Well, I’ve found that the more I am myself on my platforms, the more I attract my kind of people. The grooms will be easy to connect with because they’ll remind me of my hubby (and will talk Marvel movies with me for days), and the brides will text me (along with their bridesmaids) when they find the perfect dress and we’ll ooo and ahh over it together! Those are the kind of people I want to work with—my people. So I’ve learned that in order to attract them, I have to be unashamed about our love for Marvel, all things pretty, and the heart behind what I do.

Not only do you put your client couples at ease, but they enjoy the whole process and have a blast! How do you do it?

When I was looking for a wedding photographer, I specifically hunted for someone who knew their stuff as a photographer, but was also a people-person—someone I could connect with. I wanted someone who allowed space for genuine laughter and JOY to be captured. And that’s what I offer my clients. Just enough posing that they don’t feel awkward, and just enough prompting to highlight the relationship and bring out true connection and joy. No two couples are the same, so of course no two sessions or weddings should look the same. I take the time to get to know my clients and bring in fun prompts and games to get them comfortable and laughing. At the end of a shoot, my couples often tell me (yes, even the guys!), “That was so much FUN!”

What are some ways you create an entire client experience for your clients through each step of the process (from when they first inquire on your website, to their big day, to when you give them photos and complete the service)?

I’m serious about my mission. I want to support my brides and grooms to the altar and beyond. So I show real care for them from step one. I invest in them from the start. As soon as they book, I send them my favorite premarital book as a way to say “I’m rooting for you!” and to encourage them to see their engagement season as an opportunity to be especially intentional in their relationship. At their engagement session, I get them to tell me their proposal story and prompt the groom to “Whisper in her ear a time you were really proud of her this past year.” On their wedding day, I can read the room and be who they need me to be. If they need a hype woman—I’m there to gush over the dress and giggle with the bride before she sees her groom. If they’re anxious and stressed, I’m the calm voice beside them telling them saying, “Trust me, I’ve done this a thousand times, it’ll all work out,” and then running to get them an extra slice of cake at the reception. After their wedding day, I get straight to work on their photos and have them on the blog that week! I work hard to create an experience where my couples feel cared for, comfortable to be themselves, and wowed by the final product.

A Day in the Life:

Describe a typical workday.

Every day is different but almost every day includes editing photos from a weekend wedding or session, emailing clients to finalize their timelines or get them booked, and posting on Instagram and Instastories to connect with my audience!

What business tasks do you face on a routine basis?

Lots of email, Instagram and editing over here!

Business Tips + Takeaways:

What tips do you have for growing and running a creative business?

Have you heard of Tuesday’s Together? It’s a nation-wide group of creatives that meets up (there’s one in every city!) on the second Tuesday of every month. There you’ll find a group of photographers, calligraphers, event planners, and small business owners that’s just plain awesome. I’d encourage any and all small business owners to check it out! It’s an awesome place to make friends, to get ideas and input for your business, and to walk away encouraged. It’s easy to feel alone in the entrepreneur, work-from-home life so it’s so important to find community!

Do you have any favorite tools and must-haves?

I love Later! It’s a platform and app that allows you to plan out your Instagram feed and schedule your posts! It’s fun for me to design the layout of my feed and see how my images and colors go together beforehand!

How do you stay productive and motivated?

There’s been a huge learning curve for me in this department. But about a year ago I set a schedule for myself: On Mondays, I edit; on Tuesdays, I write blog posts; on Wednesdays, I publish blog posts and camp out on social media; on Thursdays, I network with vendors and do all the business things; on Fridays, I prep for the weekend wedding; on Saturday, I shoot; on Sunday, I rest. And then start all over come Monday! That’s not all I do on each given day, but having one overarching task or goal for each day has been helpful to get me up and going!

Are there any lessons you’ve learned along the way? And/or what are some of the biggest struggles you’ve faced with growing or running a small business?

I’ve struggled a lot with the seasonal aspect of my work. May/June and September/October are crazy busy wedding months and January/February/March are sooo slow. It can be challenging to adapt season-to-season. I’m learning I have to prepare for the slow months: What long-term projects do I need to tackle? What’s something I need to learn before the next wedding season hits? Who are the people I want to establish relationships with in my area? And I have to mentally prepare my schedule, friends, and family for the busier months. I’m not a pro at this yet—it’s something I’m still figuring out!

Would you be willing to share any tips on getting your first clients for people who are just getting started in a creative industry?

Start with social media. Start a Facebook page and Instagram, and post regularly and consistently. Shoot for friends for free, and then get bold and ask strangers to model for you! Build a portfolio, and build your voice in your brand. Before you know it, you’ll have a brand people trust and are willing to invest in!

Goals + New Things:

What’s in store with your brand? Do you have any new or exciting things in the works you’d like to share with us?

I am (behind the scenes) working to build up my branding photography. When I'm not shooting weddings and couples, businesses and boss babes and my next favorite! I love connecting with other small business owners, hearing their stories, and finding creative ways to help communicate their business story and brand to the world through branding sessions! I feel pretty strongly that people need to see your face to connect with your brand, and I love pushing my branding clients to share more of themselves to build their brand and find their people!

Stay in Touch:

Where is the best place to follow you and stay in touch?

SarahLinPhotography.com

Find me on Instagram! I love building relationships with my clients and friendors there! @SarahLinPhotography

Thanks for sharing so much of your brand (and your beautiful smile!) with us, Sarah!

Now it’s your turn: What are some ways you connect with clients to give them an unforgettable experience? Let us know in the comments!

You might also like . . .

Want even more?

Enjoy what you're reading on the blog? Subscribe to the Ponder Trail Newsletter for weekly action steps on implementing strategy and purpose in your business.