By Desiree Bennett May, 24, 2020

Entrepreneur Interview featuring Red Stiletto

An Interview with Oklahoma’s Own - Whittney, Owner of Red Stiletto, Photography Studio

Today I got the incredible opportunity to interview with a lovely lady named Whitney, Owner of Red Stiletto, a photography studio right here in Norman, Oklahoma. Being an Oklahoman myself, I knew just who to reach out for this interview.

This interview is a part of an assignment from my management class at Maryville University on “Interviewing with an Entrepreneur”. I’m writing this article on the entire process including the interview itself, and my thoughts. I first came across Red Stiletto via a FaceBook announcement for their "Stay At Home Business Collaboration with Red Stiletto". They had found a way to help local, small businesses get the word out about themselves during the 2020 Pandemic. Any type of business was welcome-even an Etsy Shop! It was a great opportunity for business folks in Oklahoma. This was about a month ago, and when my professor introduced this assignment, I knew just who to reach out to! Whitney got back to me within the hour, and had the full interview done that day! She was very timely, and overall great to work with! Here’s the full interview below,

Interview:

What is/was your educational background? I have a Masters in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing.

What was your primary motivation for starting your own business? I started taking pictures when I was 11 year old and always knew being a photographer was what I wanted to do. In high school, I sold prints of my Homecoming pictures I’d take of classmates on the bulletin board, and upon arriving at college, I started shooting weddings and engagements. Having my own studio has always been the goal and I’ve worked hard for it ever since!

With the current economic environment, what shifts or changes have you made? We rescheduled half of our March sessions, and all of April. We took the time off to reorganize processes, we ran a donation for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, and we partnered with other small businesses to share about what they do in our VIP group of over 8K women, we trained the studio manager we hired RIGHT BEFORE the shut down, hired someone to make our phone calls, and now we are now back in the studio with modified processes to keep our staff and clients safe. Other than that, not much has changed. We just made the most of our time away from the studio.

What concerns you as a business owner? Being told I have to shut down again. I have built this dream for over 20 years. Had it not been for savings, which we had to totally drain, we may not have made it and that scares me. I need to work. I don’t want to lose my dream.

How do you remain innovative? Relevant? I go to trainings’ at least twice a year and will forever be learning. I know photographers that refused to switch to digital photography and they didn’t make it, so I find being uncomfortable is one of the ways I have stayed relevant. I’m willing to try something new even if it pushes me outside of my comfort zone. I’m willing to take risks and try knowing that I might fall on my face. I let my creativity drive me and when something gets boring, I find ways to switch it up.

How have your goals or ideas changed since beginning your business? Yes and no. I have always loved reminding women of how beautiful they are through my photos. Watching someone’s eyes light up when they see themselves in my photos motivates me so much. I started out in portrait work and never intended to shoot boudoir, but after watching women fall in love with themselves all over again or for many, the first time, the lightbulb came on and I have never been the same! I still love and continue to shoot weddings, engagements, and portraits, but nothing brings me more joy than to see a woman change the way she feels about herself because of what we create together!

Describe a failure in your first years of business. How did you rebound? I charged too little for too much. I found I was spinning my wheels and giving so many hours and not making enough to support and survive as a business. I didn’t value myself or my time and my family suffered. I took a class on business, which was humbling since I had a Masters in Business and thought I knew everything, but the knowledge I learned while many principles stay true, technology, trends, clients, and our world in general changes, and I had more to learn. After taking the class, I revamped my pricing and what I offered. This decision priced me out of my friends and those who didn’t want to pay me market and gave me clients who DID value what I did and would find the money to pay for it.

What would you do differently? Nothing, this is my journey. I can go back and scrutinize and “if only…” myself to death, but each step has taught me something. Each moment has been a stepping stone for the next chapter, it has been the mistake that taught me the valuable lesson I would need later down the road. Sure, I could have gotten to this point faster, maybe, but what piece to my puzzle would I be missing?

What was the best advice given to you? "If you start low, you stay low.” Early on, I interned with an amazing videographer who gave me that advice. I didn’t take it and spent over 10 year being stuck as the “budget photographer” who didn’t have time or money. It wasn’t until I took the class I referenced, that I raised my prices because I finally valued ME and knew I was worth my prices. Now I’m at the top

price wise and this means many people don’t pick me, but the ones who do are willing to pay and value my time and art do. I have found that people will find money for what they want to find money for. I have had many broke college students paying for their own wedding find a way to pay for my wedding photography because they want one of my canvases on their wall. It happens with boudoir too.

What advice would you give me on starting my own business? Value and protect your time. If this means outsourcing tasks you don’t HAVE to do, do it. Know that you are worth the prices you charge and don’t let bullies talk you down. Stand your ground. If someone doesn’t value or isn’t able to pay you what you are asking, they aren’t your client and that is okay! This means friends and family too. If you really want to make your business your career, you have to take into account all of your expenses for the business PLUS your personal expenses. I feel like a lot of businesses, especially those who consider what they do their heart and soul like I do and would do it for free if they could, going out of business. Staying in business requires money, enough money to sustain you and give you saving should anything happen like we all just went through over the past few months. Get the business part down. You can LOVE what you do, you can be passionate, you can even be the best at it, but if you don’t know how to run and sustain the business part, you only have an expense hobby.

Whitney,

Owner of Red Stiletto, Photography Studio, Norman, Oklahoma.

Redstil.com or team@redstil.com