An interview with Charissa Yong, founder of Charissa H. Yong Photography, LLC. Charissa creates eye-catching brand photos for sevice-based business owners to tell their stories confidently and authentically.
Charissa Yong, founder of Charissa H. Yong Photography, LLC, understands the importance of building a personal brand that tells your story as a professional that people want to do business with. She loves to help service-based entrepreneurs who are ready to stand out in the crowded online world.
Charissa was raised by her grandparents in Malaysia, and moved to the United States after her grandparents passed away, to New Jersey, when she was sixteen years old. Though she was a creative person, Charissa chose to get a degree in computer science as a path to financial stability.
After working 11 years in the corporate world as a software test engineer and the 3-hour daily commute, she was burned out. She knew she had to leave the job to find something that was more creative and meaningful. In 2018, she left corporate America and decided to start her photography business.
"So I've been changing myself, trying to fit in from 6th grade all the way to college and even a little bit during the time when I was in corporate. And it's exhausting, it's just exhausting. And I'm so glad I got the opportunity to do this business because this business not only teaches me about being authentic, just showing up as yourself, stop being a people pleaser, stop saying yes to everything, learning about burnout. All of these opportunities, I don't think they would come up if I stayed at a corporate job." - Charissa Yong
Key takeaways:
- Get comfortable asking for help. Towards the end of her corporate job, Charissa was grumpy, tired and stressed, and probably fighting some kind of post-partum blues. She remembers her gynecologist telling her that she was not a supermom; that she needed help, and needed to ask for it. She reached out to her mom, who was able to help Charissa out for a couple of hours each week.
Charissa was also lucky in that a friend of a colleague of hers introduced her to a wedding photographer, who became an important mentor to her. She taught her how to use flash, how to shoot a different way, about the business, and about editing.
- Be sure to create a realistic runway, if you’re contemplating starting a business. Charissa had heard that most businesses fail within the first two years. Charissa expected to earn no, or very little money in the first year of her photography business. She gave herself that first year to learn, and to do a lot of free shoots to build her portfolio.
- Let go of perfectionism. When Charissa first started her business, she realized that, if she allowed herself, she could spend hours and hours editing and tweaking her photos. It was her mentor who gave her an important message: “when you’re done editing - you’re done.” Otherwise, you can find yourself spending weeks editing your photos.
- Network, network, network. At the end of her first year in business, Charissa began to do a lot more networking. That is how she began to learn about personal branding as a niche, which helped her to build confidence and to show up in a more authentic way .
About the guest:
Charissa H. Yong is a New Jersey based photographer who creates eye-catching brand photos for service-based business owners to help them tell their stories confidently and authentically so they can attract their ideal clients and grow their businesses.
Email address: charissa@charissahyongphotography.com
Website: https://charissahyongphotography.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/charissahyongphotography
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charissahyong
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/charissahyongphotography
Free resources: https://charissahyongphotography.com/links
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Charissa Yong
So I've been changing myself, trying to fit in from 6th grade all the way to college and even, you know, a little bit during the time when I was in corporate. And it's exhausting, it's just exhausting. And I'm so glad I got the opportunity to, to do this business because this business not only teach me about being authentic, just showing up as yourself.
Stop being a people pleaser, stop saying yes to everything, learning about burnout. All of these opportunities, I don't think it will come up if I stay at the, at a corporate job.
Narrator
Welcome to Making Change With Your Money, a podcast that highlights the stories and strategies of women who experienced a big life transition and overcame challenges as they redefined financial success for themselves.
Now here's your host. Certified Financial Planner, Laura Rotter.
Laura Rotter
I am so happy to have as my guest today, Carissa Yang. She's the owner of Carissa H. Yang Photography, and she understands the importance of building a personal brand. So Carissa creates Eye catching brand photos for service based business owners to tell their stories confidently and authentically so that they can attract their ideal clients and grow their businesses.
So welcome, Carissa, to the Making Change With Your Money podcast.
Charissa Yong
Thank you so much, Laura, for having me. I'm very excited about this.
Laura Rotter
Me too.So I will start with the same question I start all my interviews with, which is what was money like in your family growing up?
Charissa Yong
So I was raised by my grandparents in Malaysia.
And growing up, I know my grandparents didn't have a lot of money because they were a principal and school teacher. And they were also retired at the time when they were raising me, but I never felt. That we were poor, or I never felt that we didn't have enough, they always, you know, it was a very simple life back then.
And I remember my favorite part is every week in every neighborhood, we have night markets, which you can get everything from kitchen appliances to snacks to you know, hawker stalls that sells food and stir fry noodles and you get the best food, honestly. So you could spend like 20 and you can get from like appetizer to dessert and it's, it's fantastic.
That was my favorite part growing up. And then when my grandparents passed away during the time when they were raising me, my mom was here in the US. She was trying to work, trying to get me green cards so I can come here. So when they passed away, it was time for me to come to the United States. It was a struggle.
For me, language wise, but I also see my mom's struggles with money. And she always used the term, We don't have money. We don't have money to do this. It's always constantly reminding me that we don't have money. But we also didn't live like we're poor. We still go out as a family. We still have vacation here and there.
But my mom's worked very hard to save money for those vacations. And so it's very different from the way my grandmother see money and the way my mom sees money. So as I grow older, it was very important for me to not have debt. So going to college, I make sure I was working two jobs. My mom was trying to give me whatever money she has to go to college.
And so I graduated with no debt. Buy a car with, you know, cash down and whatever I canto not have debt. The only debt right now we have is a mortgage. And that's a good debt from what I heard. So, but everything else was very important. And when I met my husband, same thing, you know, we were very We're on the same page in terms of money.
We want to make sure that we save enough emergency funds and make sure that we don't have any debt that we don't need to have, especially credit card debt. So we're both on the same page on a lot of things. So that's how money was like when I was growing up.
Laura Rotter
Thank you, Carissa. How old were you when you moved from Malaysia to the States?
Charissa Yong
So I initially came here at 12. That was the first time my mom said, you should come here, you know, go to school here and see if you like it. And at the time, my, my grandparents were still alive. So I came here and for a year and a half, I was not very happy. I was struggling to make friends, the language barrier, the culture, so I went back and then when I was 16, that's when my, both of my grandparents passed away a year after each other. So at that time, I, I have to come back here because there's no, I have aunts and uncles, but they can't really take care of me, they have their own family. Now that makes sense.
Laura Rotter
And where is here, right? The United States is a big country.
Charissa Yong
Yes, so I, my, my mom has been staying in New Jersey, northern Jersey for a while.
So we live in Palisades Park, that's where We stay at the whole time that I'm here, and then I went to school in Bergen Community College in Paramus, New Jersey, and that's where I met my husband, and he's from Paramus, so then it was just wonderful, you know, it's close by, we're 20 minutes away from each other, and then now we bought a house and we live in Westwood, which is around the same general area in Bergen County.
Laura Rotter
So nice. It sounds like, though, a big cultural shock independent of what You know, emotionally difference there might've been between your grandparents and your mother. I mean, it sounds like I would assume the cost of living was much lower in Malaysia than it was in Northern New Jersey.
Charissa Yong
Definitely. I think that has a lot to do with that.
Laura Rotter
First of all, it's wonderful that it was so important to you not to have debt. What was it that made you so clear that you were going to go to college? Was that part of the culture that you grew up with?
Charissa Yong
Well, yeah, that that was my mom's. She wanted me to go to college. We are, I think, I want to say she did go to college for a little bit, but it was very different, like the college degree in Malaysia, it doesn't translate here like completely.
So she wanted me to get A degree from a school in the United States, in a university or college. So it was very important for her, but she said, like, you can pick anymajor that you like, just get a degree. All right. So, and it's funny, I should have gone to graphic design because I'm, I'm a very creative person, but at the time I couldn't see what graphic design can get.
Like what type of job I can get. So I decided to go to computer science and my husband also were in computer science. So we kind of met there, which was great. I graduated with a computer science degree with, um, with a math minor and I got a job right after college. And so it was, it was great. I met like my best friend from, from that corporate corporate job.
Laura Rotter
Yeah. So it's, you're an interesting mix because. You're clearly a visual person. You talked about graphic design. You now are working as a photographer and yet you also have a math head, right?
Charissa Yong
I do. I told my kids that I'm like, I'm not going to be your math teacher. You'll have to get a tutor. The math that I'm learning right now is so complicated.
Laura Rotter
I know. And coding isn't a, were you a software engineer? Is that software engineer?
Charissa Yong
Yep. Right.
Laura Rotter
So coding is a little bit different than, than math.
Charissa Yong
It's definitely very different. It was really fun though. I love it.
Laura Rotter
How interesting. Do you still use it in any way?
Charissa Yong
No, but I think having the technical background that I have, it was really helpful for me to start my business because a lot of things that I have to set up is very technical.
I have to figure out how, how to set up my, my system and how things works. You know, if this. Triggers, this happens, and I have to understand the logic of it. I think my technical background helps me set things up a little bit easier.
Laura Rotter
So Carissa, please share with our listeners what the first years of your professional life were.
I saw in your CV that you worked for many years as a software engineer. And, I guess more specifically, since this is a podcast about women who've been through transitions, what happened to make you change your career path?
Charissa Yong
Yeah. So when I first got the job, I think like every college student, they want to come out and get a job.
So at the time I went to a career fair and I heard about this company looking for softwareAnd so, but the office was an hour, hour and a half away from me. So I said, you know what, at the time I said, If you give me a job, I will drive thereand they did. And it was a great job. You know, it was supposed to be sort of like a stepping stone.
And then I was trying to see if I can find something closer to home as time goes on. I get very interesting project. That requires me to travel and after we got married, we didn't have kids, so I was still able to travel. So I was able to work on projects with the British British Lottery Corporation in Canada, so I was able to travel to Canada, Vancouver, Kamloops, like Richmond, I think, for different projects, and at one point, I was able to take the lead on some of the project, which was Kamloops.
very scary, but also a challenge for me to learn that I can be a leader. So that was really fun. What made the change was that after my daughter was born, and that was about 10 years into the company, the driving, the commute, The long hours just didn't work well for my lifestyle, and I remember a few months before I handed my resignation, I was literally waking up at 2am in the morning, drive to work, start my workday at 4.
30, so I can leave work at 1. 30. and go pick up my daughter from school and then, you know, bath time and feeding and all that stuff while also doing breastfeeding. So it was a lot of stress during that time. That's when I realized I'm like, I don't know how long I can survive this schedule with four hours, four to four and a half hours of sleep every day.
It was exhausting. And as a new mother, you know, you have so much to learn trying to figure out how to take care of this baby. But then you also have to, you know, go into office and do your work and pump milk and like all of that stuff is just so much for one person. And my husband was helpful. He was able to take my daughter to go to school, pick up if there's any emergency because he's close by.
But still, that's a lot of stress. So I decided that I want to quit. And we've been talking about it for years, trying to figure out, okay, if I quit, what will I do? Should I go back to corporate? Should I do something similar to what I'm doing or something completely different, but still in corporate? And I decided, you know what, I'm, I'm done.
I don't want people to tell me that I have to work 40 hours a week. I don't, I mean, I like the structure of it. I come into work, I clock out, and I can enjoy my family time. Just a few times that she's sick, or I'm sick, that I remember I still have to stay up late at night to make that 40 hour week. And it was very stressful.
So I said, you know, I love photography. I don't know anything about the business. I have an idea about business because my, my dad used to own two restaurants, but again, it's a completely different industry. So I said, I told my husband,can we afford it? First off, because we're in Northern New Jersey, it's very expensive to live in this area.
And most people would need to income to You know, sustain all the, I mean, pay for all the expenses. So he say, no worries, we should be fine. Give it a try. I said, okay, gimme two years. Gimme two years. I'm gonna figure this thing out. So that's what I did. I, I just decided to give that a try. So I started as a family photographer.
Right after my daughter was born. I bought A-D-S-L-R. So I've been practicing on herand so I said, you know, family photography has always been in my life. Forever, my mom used to take a lot of pictures of us. You know how those film camera, and then you have to go develop it, but then you don't know how the picture will come out.
So 50 percent of it will be blurry or dark, right? So my mom has a lot of them as I'm growing up, and those photos are so precious to me. And I remember I wouldlook through all those photos, or just photos of my grandmother, and You remember that feeling that memory is sometimes even the smell will come back So I want to create that that feeling for my clients So I started as a family photographer and then I want to say about a year in I was like, oh I don't know how to market my business correctly because I've been just sharing the photos but not really sharing why I do what I do or who I help, and I didn't know how to do that.
So like everyone else, you go to Google, search for things you don't know. And I found out about personal branding. And I said, Oh, that's interesting. I've never heard anything like that before. So I researched a little bit more and I found somebody who is a photographer. And she's also teaching about personal branding, photography and the business of it.
So I invested. In that course.
Laura Rotter
So a lot comes up for me. So before I ask more about the course, you mentioned, Carissa, that you were thinking for a number of years before you made the decision to go out on your own. So again, for our listeners, can you. detail a little bit what the process was. I mean, was it a year, two years?
And what was it that you were thinking about?
Charissa Yong
Oh, I want to say by the seventh year, six or seventh year at the corporate job, I was struggling. I was like, I'm, this job is okay. But there's a lot of things happening in the office that I was like, I don't know if I like the way they do things. We didn't feel appreciated.
The engineer's department always get blamed for everything that's not working. Or when we find bugs, the manufacturer hates us. Which is I get it. You know, it's, it's all about making money. So I think it's a lot of the negativity, not necessarily the people I work with. They're all wonderful people, but I think it's the management level that I felt that we weren't supported.
In some way, I was very lucky. I had a great boss. He was very flexible with everything, especially when my daughter was born and I have a few great bosses there. They're wonderful, but I was struggling to figure out what I want to do. And then. When I was getting really close to that 11th year and I decided to quit, it's just, I don't, I don't know how to put it where you know how sometimes you're thinking of something and you're like, Oh, I think I'm going to do this, this, this or this, but you're not clear like which one to you want to move forward with.
So in that 11th year, I was saying like photography, somehow it just gravitate towards me and I say, I think that's the one. And, and my mind was very focused on that, which never happened before because from year 7 to 11, I was like, what should I do? What should I do? And I sometimes I get bored. I would go on Indeed or, you know, back then was Monster or whatever it is.
And, you know, I would look for jobs just to like, you know, I would look See what resonate with me and what I really want to do, but nothing stick. So the photography part, I think it's also because my daughter was born and it brought back a lot of memories of me looking through those old photos and everything.
I say, you know what? We're living. We live in a digital world that everyone take pictures with their phone and there's nothing wrong with that. Right? But nobody prints any photos anymore. Nobody prints photo albums anymore. I, I believe that feeling those photos and actually touching the album, it, it just creates a different experience.
So I said, that's what I want to do. So I think my daughter has a lot to do with my decision. So interesting.
Laura Rotter
And Carissa, when you talk about it, like when you talked about the photos that your mother took and then just now, it's almost like a spiritual experience that you're describing. The tenor of your voice changes, becomes like softer and, you know, more aspirational.
So it sounds like you, when your daughter was born, you were taking out the camera and taking pictures. I'm just curious before it became your professional life, what role photography played?
Charissa Yong
Oh, I'm always the one that takes picture everywhere we go. Even my husband, you know, it's like. Put the phone down, put the camera down.
Enjoy the moment. I'm big on documenting what we do because I love doing, especially after we got married, I love doing a yearly recap of our, of our year in a photo book. Every month I pick a favorite picture or a couple of favorite picture and I put them in photobooks. So we have our gear and recap. So I, I love documenting photos throughout my whole life actually, you know, because I love going back and look at them.
And so when my daughter was born and when I got the DSLR and playing with it and mind that I have no idea how to shoot. in manual mode. I always just use the automatic mode, just like most people who get new DSLR because it's very complicated. If you do manual, you have to learn all the settings and everything.
And I was just using automatic and just taking picture, learning different angle. And then I figured, you know, this is something that I really love to do. It brings me a lot of joy. I think that's, that's one thing I was looking for doing something I love. That makes me happy because I also feel that when I do that, I can be a better wife.
I can be a better mom. I was very, I think by the time, around the time when I'm quitting, I was very, I was very grumpy. I was stressed. I probably still battling some sort of postpartum blues, not really depression. I didn't go that far, but I know I had postpartum blues. that my, my doctor, my gynecologist was like, you need help.
So ask for help. You're not a super mom, just ask for help. And I did. I asked my mom to come help out a couple hours and that's very helpful. So because of that, searching for something that I would enjoy doing that was very important for me.
Laura Rotter
I love that. I think so, so few of us are able to say that what we do during the day really brings us joy and that you made that really paramount as you move forward is so nice to hear.
And I also want to affirm for you, Carissa, that it is a superpower to ask for help.And, you know, women general are not very good. And asking for support when we need it. So, you know, more power to you that you did it and that your mother made herself available. And so nice to live close by so that she could make herselfavailable.
So you said that you gave yourself two years. Can you talk about that? And, you know, it's, it's hard to start a new business and most people fail.
Charissa Yong
Yeah. And I think. That's what it is. I heard a lot of businesses fail within the first two years, and I know the first year I will not make a lot of money or I will make none.
I'll probably be in the negative because the gear that I have to invest in, but it's also a learning curve. I give myself that first year to learn. And implement what I've learned, and I did a lot of model calls, I did a lot of free shoot to build up my portfolio, learn Photoshop, learn editing, all that, all that is so new to me, but I was very lucky I had, I have somebody that I know, she's actually a friend of mine.
She's a great person. my colleague. So she introduced us and she's a wedding photographer. So she has been a wonderful mentor to me when I first started. She taught me how to use flash, how to shoot a different way, you know, about the business, about editing. And at the time when I first started, I was a perfectionist.
And with editing, you can spend hours to edit and you can still tweak and tweak and tweak. So she, I remember she told me. When you're done editing, you're done. Stop looking back, because you could spend another few weeks on this. I said, okay, you're right. You're right. So that, that's helpful to find that mentor when I first started.
So I was very, very blessed and grateful that I have her. And. I think after the first year, that's when I learned about the personal branding photography because I was doing a lot more networking. So at the end of first year, I was doing a lot more networking. And then I say, people keep asking me, do I take headshots?
Do I take headshots? I said, yeah, I could definitely. I mean, I did that for family photos, so I definitely could do headshots. And then when I learned about personal branding, I said, that's a very interesting niche that I'm like, that's maybe something that will help me gain that confidence to market my business too and putting more of my photos on there because I'm such an introvert that I just been putting my own photos, my, my work out there, but you don't see any of my pictures there because I was like, I don't want to be in front of the camera.
I'm awkward,but That's it. I said, you know, in order for me to help my clients, if I want to go into the personal branding photography, feel like the niche, I need to do that for myself. I need to show that I'm doing it and how it helped me build confident and show up in very authentic way where people would just, you know, whether they resonate with me or not, you know, that, that way we can build a better, how do I say it, like marketing. For our business. I hope that makes sense.
Laura Rotter
I mean, it does because I've just have an example in my head of, I've been, you know, getting emails for people to help with marketing, not with photography, but, and the first thing I do is go on their social media, like how much marketing are they doing themselves?
Are they posting though? Do they have a personality? I mean, if they're saying they can help me. but they haven't posted in three months, you know, so you really do look if you're, again, if you're looking for personal branding photography, you'd want to see that you yourself have done it. So can you, can you describe what it is that you started to do for yourself and in order to help others?
Charissa Yong
Um, yeah, I, I, invested in a branding photo shoot for myself and using those photos to kind of start telling my story or start sharing like why personal branding photography is important, how it can help a business. I'm also learning, instead of just saying, look at how pretty this picture is, or look at how You know, this, this was the photo shoot last week.
I started to change my caption to include more storytelling, sharing the client's story or doing a client feature, telling them about their story. What do they do? Who they help? And then I also put it in my blog to feature them that way. That had really, I think also during COVID, I thought about creating a community.
So I did a virtual networking event. For people around here or some of them are in New York, and I think from changing it to look at these photos. Look at what I did to this is who I am. I introduced myself like a personal branding photographer. I can't, you know, I'm an immigrant from Malaysia, this and that, and then go into also featuring client building that community and also providing value.
All of that, a combination of that, and then also using photos of myself in there, that creates a lot of connections. And recently I've heard from a few people, and you know how we met through Zoom, where we connect with each other on social media, and then we finally met in person. And I have a few people come up to me and say, you are exactly how I imagined you would be in person because you're showing up online as you.
I was like, oh, thank you. That, that really, that really helps. Then that means I'm going the right track. I am showing up authentically myself, and I want to teach other people to do it that way. Because for a long time too, and, and I'm a people pleaser, I've always trying to find ways to fit in. And I think that's because of.
The transition from coming from Malaysia to here that I felt like an outsider. I felt like I didn't belong. So I always, my husband hated this. I came here with a British accent because in Malaysia it's a British colony where we, the English we learn is British English. So when I came here the first year, within the first year, I changed my accent.
To be more Americanized. To fit in. So now I complete, I still have a few words that I would say it sounds, you know, British, but my husband said, like, why did you change it? And I told him, like, at the time I was, you know, I was in what, sixth grade and I was in ESL, which is an English college. As a second language course, I couldn't communicate and I just want to fit in.
So I've been changing myself, trying to fit in from 6th grade all the way to college. And even, you know, a little bit during the time when I was in corporate. And it's exhausting. It's just exhausting and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to To do this business because this business not only teach me about being authentic just showing up as yourself Stop being a people pleaser stop saying yes to everything, learning about burnout, all of these opportunities.
I don't think it will come up if I stay at the, at a corporate job. It might, but I think this fast tracked like the way I think about myself when I started the business. So yeah.
Laura Rotter
Well, Carissa, that is so beautiful. And I know what attracted me to you is your authenticity and the sense that I'm, that you're truly being yourself.
And I think many of us often feel like outsiders, perhaps not exactly the same story as yours, but there is a tendency to feel that everyone else You know, is part of the team and, and where not. And, and certainly as a woman who worked on wall street from first starting and being told you have to wear a suit and one of those little bow ties and always wear pantyhose, I mean, it has shifted over the years, but very much a message from day one of like, do not be yourself be as much.
Of a man, if you possibly can, don't bring your femininity, don't bring yourself to the table. And I think it's one of the gifts of entrepreneurship. There's certainly many challenges. And one of the gifts is the ability to be yourself, which also comes over time. You don't realize that when you first hang out your shingle and to say, you know.
I am going to turn people off if I myself, and that's okay. I don't need to work with everybody. I want to work with people who resonate with who I am and who I enjoy. As you said, get joy from working with.
Charissa Yong
That is the key. You just said it. You know, just being yourself. And being able to show up authentically and not having to make everyone like you.
I think that is like, yes. I agree.
Laura Rotter
So you talked about bringing community together. I think the last time you and I spoke, you were about to do that day. So can you describe who you enjoy working with who your community is?
Charissa Yong
Yeah. So I love with I love working with women business owners, specifically the service space business owners, because I felt that they're the one that's always struggling to figure out What type of photos they can use.
Because they don't have a physical product, they don't have something tangible that they can show how they help their client. So I love trying to listen to, to what they do and the type of clients they work with and then create the story and the custom branding photo that goes along with that to help them do that.
Laura Rotter
Story has come up several times. Can you tell our listeners what role that plays in your work? I know I saw again on, on your LinkedIn that you took a, a storytelling course, so if you could speak to that.
Charissa Yong
Yeah, so the storytelling course is also part of my personal writing course that I took, that I learned, That you're not only talking about what you do, you know, you talk about Laura is a financial advisor or like you, you have your own finance firm.
A lot of people tend to go into business and they're talking about, this is what I do. This is who I help. This is what I sell. That's all they talk about, right? All business, business, business, the branding photography course that I took, they talk about sharing the part of your life. Like, where you came from, your values, if you have a mission statement, share that.
Also, sharing the other side of your family life, if you want. There's no, like, you must do it. Everybody has different comfort in terms of sharing their personal life. Some people will share everything, and some people will share Very little and it's, it's really based on your comfort zone. So I learned that for me, I will share my family life.
I will share photos of my, my kids, but I will not share their names. I will share, you know, we go on vacation, but I won't share on the day of our vacation. I'll share a week or two weeks later, you know, so you have to figure out what is your. Comfortability when you talk about that. So why that works in marketing and when you build your personal brands, because people do business with people, you know, like and trust.
And if you're only talking about your business all the time. Okay, that's great. They know about what you do, but who is really Laura? Like, who are you? You know,people are curious. They want to know who we are. And, and that's the whole point of networking too, right? When we go to networking events, we're just not there to do business, but sometimes we're there to just meet people from all different backgrounds to learn about them, to learn from them.
So, If you share more of your personal life or even like a different side of your business, even for business, you share a little bit behind the scene. It's intriguing for people. They know like, Oh, that's how Laura work. Oh, wow. This is Laura does this zoom call or, you know, like it, it creates interest for people.
And that's how they build that trust. Because first they know you, and then they say, I resonate with Laura. Let me like her post. Let me connect with her on LinkedIn. And then as you share more of your content, you know, a mix of educational content, a mix of this podcast, a mix of something valuable, like tips of the day,that makes it interesting for people to learn more about you.
And when they learn more about you, they say, well, I like her and I trust her. So now when the time is right, I'm going to work with her or when the time is right, I'm going to refer her to someone I know that needs her help or something like that. So that's how I learned. And a lot of it with marketing, I find that it's a lot of trial and error.
Because every everyone, you know, I can be a personal branding photographer down the street can be another personal branding photographer, but our clientele may be very different. So the way we tell our story has to resonate with our ideal client, our target audience.And then, you know, like, in the beginning, when you start sharing, you're like, I don't think this post do so well, or I don't think they like this post.
You can change it up. You have time to change it up and play around with it. That's how I, I found that certain messages from, for, for my social media posts, even my newsletter, I get feedback from clients all the time or people I know who are on my email list. They say, I love your, I love your content in your, in your.
email list. And sometimes asking for opinion, asking your followers or asking people on your email list, Hey, what would you like to see? How can I help you? You know, you're, you're still serving your audience, whether they will become your client or not, but they can be your referral partner if they feel like they can trust you. So storytelling comes up a lot.
Laura Rotter
It does. And And you've said something that really resonates with me, which is again, when we first start businesses where we, we have to market, right? We should all, all over ourselves that I have to post. And I, and if you switch it to what value can I bring to my readers or my listeners without thinking about.
That it has to necessarily be connected to a sale, but that in general, what's your mission? What do you want to teach people about? And that we all have platforms nowadays that before were not accessible. And so use the platform to educate, inform, perhaps entertain, and And perhaps you'll connect with someone and something will come of it.
But we, you know, to make it transactional, certainly again, for me, takes away some of the joy. It's, it's hard to just treat every relationship as transactional.
Charissa Yong
Oh yeah, definitely. I have made so many friends that we met on Instagram or even like through networking and there's nothing transactional about it.
We just became friends because we click and it's wonderful. You know, you're right.
Laura Rotter
I guess I have one last question before we come to the end of our conversation. I wouldn't necessarily put storytelling together with photography, right? You know, uh, I don't know if I'm, I'm too left brain, but it's like, this is visual.
This is, so can you just describe how the two go together when, when you're approaching a client?
Charissa Yong
Yeah, definitely. So when, when the client decided to, they want to get the branding photo shoot done, we go through a questionnaire. So in the questionnaire, I will ask them like, give me your website, your, your social media.
Laura Rotter
Tell me about your ideal client. What do you have in common with your ideal client? Cause some of us, we decided to do what we do is because we've gone through it or we had experienced it. And now we want to change. Either the industry or we want to change the way women feel about money or about themselves in front of photos, right?
Charissa Yong
So we, we will share something like that. And once I know about, you know, the ideal client, what they do, who they help, we just create photos that can help them to market themselves. Say if they come to me and they say, I'm going to be a speaker at this event. I said, okay, well, then you need a headshot. You need a couple of different type of headshot.
You need a headshot that's chest up, just depending on what they want to do with their graphics, because sometimes they do need like a smaller photo. And you want photos half waist and then the full body shot, more lifestyle, because you want to have that openness. That approach of people can approach you like friendliness type of photo, then if they say, I'm going to be doing a workshop or I'm going to be doing a retreat, great, wonderful, then we'll bring in some models or people, you know, friends, family, bring whoever you can bring, come in, we'll do a photo shoot that shows that you're doing the retreat, because people are visual, they need to not only see what you do, but also like, You tell the story, you tell what you're planning to do, or you tell why you're doing the retreat or you're doing the workshop in your caption.
It will kind of be more memorable that way. Because if you just use a stock photo, say someone pointing, you know, like speaking, but not really you, it's not as good as having a photo of you actually doing the workshop. So we would do something like that. So during the planning, it's like really asking them, what is your goal for your photo shoot?
A branding photo shoot is an investment to your business. We want to make sure that we cover everything that you plan to do for the next few months. So. You know, planning and figure out what are the goal is, that's where we come up with all these photo and it's funny because I, I never had find myself having this, this skill, but sometimes when I start talking to the client or when I'm starting reading their answers to the questionnaire, I start having visual pop up in my head, like the visual of how their shoot would go or the specific photos that they would need.
And that really helps a lot when I plan it. And then we create like a my shot list and I'll go to Pinterest board because again, people are very visual. So I will create a Pinterest board for them and say, this is what I'm thinking your shoot will go, the type of photos you need. the style and the feel of it and so we will go through it together and then they say oh I like this one not really sure about this one but we can give it a try this one so I get a lot of feedback a lot of communication and that's very important for a branding shoot is the communication so they would tell me what they like I will give them ideas and they'll say I like that or no I don't like that so it's a lot of back and forth and that's how we'll plan everything in advance when we go into a photo shoot we just have fun And laugh and be silly and, and that's how I get their authentic self coming out in the
photo.
Laura Rotter
Thank you so much. That was really so helpful, that explanation for us. And again, you have such a warm, open personality. You know, it's just must be a pleasure to work with you and easy to communicate with you. So as we come to the end of our conversation, I always like to know how has your definition of success shifted in the last couple of years?
Charissa Yong
My definition of success Now, it's very different, very different. Before, it was all about making money, having big house, driving nice cars. Now, my definition of success is time. Do I have time to spend with my family? Do I have time to take my girls out to go to the park? Do I have time to take a day off and take my daughter out on her birthday to go to Legoland?
You know,that, to me, is success. Money, of course, is still important, but I feel like if we have enough To pay the bills, and we have a roof over our head, everything we need, I'm happy. That's success to me.
Laura Rotter
Beautiful, beautiful. Yes, I often say we have three scarce resources, money of course, time and energy.
And as we get older, it becomes important to make sure that we have the right balance and it shifts, you know, from year to year. And I really respect what you're doing and that answer. What else would you like to share? With the audience, are there any resources you have available or any recommendations for, you know, women who may be thinking to make a choice similar to you of leaving the corporate world and going out on their own?
Charissa Yong
Yeah, so I do have some resources. If you are, whether you're a service based business owner or product based business owner, I have a free checklist. that gives you 10 ideas, 10 photo ideas and also caption ideas that you can use your cell phone, simple cell phone, set it up on the timer or have a friend or family take a photo of you.
That's a good start. And so I can share with you the link. If you need to find it, you can always find it on Instagram on one of those links under my, my page is at Carissa H Young Photography. And thenFor those who are thinking of leaving their corporate job, communication with your spouse. I think that's really the key because it is a very big financial decision for the family.
So having that communication was very helpful for me to finally make a decision that say, okay, my husband say we should be okay. Let me give this a try and go all in. And also I wish I find a community. when I first started. So if you decide to go into business, find a community, join a chamber of commerce, join some sort of paid group that you can find your community there because it's so helpful when you have those community.
You're, you're not only learning, but you also can help them with your knowledge as well.
Laura Rotter
So, so true. I, I second everything you said. Thank you so much for being my guest, Carissa. I really enjoyed our conversation. I'll be adding the resources you mentioned to our show notes. And this has been such a wonderful conversation.
I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Carissa Young of Carissa H. Young Photography. And some of my takeaways that I'd like to share are Get comfortable asking for help. Towards the end of her corporate job, Carissa was grumpy, tired, and stressed, and probably fighting some kind of postpartum blues. She remembers her gynecologist telling her that she was not a super mom, that she needed help and needed to ask for it.
She reached out to her mom. was able to help Carissa out for a couple of hours each week.Carissa was also lucky in that a friend of a colleague of hers introduced her to a wedding photographer who became an important mentor. She taught her how to use flash, how to shoot a different way, about the business, and about editing.
Takeaway number two. Be sure to create a realistic runway if you're contemplating starting a business.Carissa had heard that most businesses fail within the first two years, so she expected to earn no or very little money in the first year of her photography business. She gave herself that first year to learn and do a lot of free shoots to build her portfolio.
My third takeaway, it's an important one. Let go of perfectionism. When Carissa first started her business, she realized that if she allowed herself, she could spend hours and hours editing and tweaking her photos. It was her mentor who gave her an important message. When you're done editing, You're done.
Otherwise, you can find yourself spending weeks editing your photos. And finally, another important message. Network, network, network. At the end of her first year in business, Carissa began to do a lot more networking. And so she began to learn about personal branding as a niche. Which helped her to build confidence and to show up in a more authentic way.
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Narrator
Thanks for listening to Making Change With Your Money. Certified financial planner, Laura Rotter, specializes in helping people just like you, organized, clarify, and invest their money in order to support a life of purpose and meaning. Go to www. trueabundanceadvisors. com forward slash workbook for a free resource to help you on your journey.
Disclaimer, please remember that the information shared by this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. It's for information purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.