067: Abby Wilkes – Keeping The Spark Alive in Your Business & How to Avoid Comparing Yourself to Others

July 10, 2022

“Play. Don’t take life too seriously.”

ABBY WILKES

Hey everyone! It’s Sally here, from Studio Ninja. Today’s episode is all about Abby Wilkes!

Check out some of the biggest points from Abby’s interview below:

How did you find the process of moving from Brand Photography to Soul Photography?

It’s a very good question. I love that question. And again, it is not something that happens overnight. I would say probably taken me in total probably about three years. And I always ask my customers for feedback. And it’s always like, “How do you feel, how did you feel beforehand? What were your worries? What were you concerned? How did you feel during the photo shoot? What really excited you?” Et cetera. And it’s that feedback again, what they gave, because I do listen, because that’s how I learn. That’s why every single time I ask, and they were talking so much, again, independently from, “It’s like you are seeing into my soul.” And I thought, “Whoa.” Again, I’m not aware of it because it kind of comes naturally to me. And then when somebody said, “Oh, that is actually really, really nice. I really like that.”

And again, then I sit with that and I really noticed that the words that are being used, from, “How do you feel energetically?” to the kind of questions that you ask. And it’s also that fear of that imposter syndrome. “Oh, can’t call myself that.” But again, there is the lesson itself, because why are we here? We are here to make a meaningful difference in the world. We are, whatever that is. And we are here for a very short period of time in this lifetime. And that’s where I challenge myself, “You know what, let’s just go for it. Really, let’s just go for it.” But again, it is asking feedback and challenging yourself all the time. And why not?

How do you keep the spark alive in your business?

That is such a good question. Something I’ve learned fairly early, I have to say, in my business I’m still very grateful for. It’s actually like when you do a photo shoot, and especially in the beginning, where you really have like, “Okay, you’re doing it for the clients.” But then over time, “You know what? I want to have a play too, you know?” So I started literally then 10% of my images were for me just to explore a little bit. And in the beginning they were just for me, then I would include them in the presentation. And over time, again, have been in business long enough I noticed that, okay, there was 10%, then it was 25%, then it was 40%. And now I listen to my customers’ brief, of course, because they have expectations. There’s certain things that they would like for their website.

But I already tell them ahead, “Okay, that is very important, but I’m also going to challenge you and I’m going to play. We are so going to play.” And that’s also for myself, I need to play. I literally just booked a photo shoot with a good client of mine when I said, “Okay, Aseter, it’s time to play. I want to do something very different with the wild wise women.” There are women at a certain age, you’ve got your experience here in life, in business. Show me that really beautiful, rough, but that knowledge, that experience you’ve got.” And immediately she said, “I’ve got this amazing golden outfit. Really trouser suit, I want to wear it with big feathers in my hand.” I go like, “Okay then, bring it on. Anything that you would like.”

And again, it doesn’t have to be that. It’s purely, it’s that everybody has a small rebel in them. And again, I have that myself. I am still getting that rebel out more and more, and I’m getting it out through my clients as well. But again, coming back to your question, play, play more. You don’t always have to be just there for the clients. Again, the clients that you feel you can be yourself with, call them, ask them, “Hey, you know what? I’ve got something in mind. Let’s just have a play together. Let’s just see what we can create.” And again, and I’m very, very grateful my customer says, “Yeah, yeah, I’m up for it. Fantastic.” So literally I’m just now already, “Ooh, where shall we go to?” Booking Airbnb, we find it very easy last couple years, we just book an Airbnb, it’s so much easier.

I’ve had a client, she just had a couple of friends, literally friends of hers come over, we do the photo shoot first, then she just has friends over. Of course I can stay a bit longer so we have a trip or whatever. And then they just have their friends, all those beautiful things, play, play, and try something different. Trying not to go for the typical. We have so often that we compare ourselves with other people as well and we think that they are better, but don’t forget people actually compare themselves to you as well. Because they think that you are the one. So again, it’s okay to compare, but don’t make that that you actually think that they are any better or in whatever capacity that you are. Stay true to yourself, because otherwise you cannot grow to your full capacity. Absolutely.

If you could add one final piece of advice, something that’s made a difference in your personal life or your business life, what would that piece of advice be?

Play. Seriously, play. I cannot say, life is too serious enough, just play. And yes, it’s the consistency and how often you have to show up, but stop sometimes in your track of the things that you think that you’re supposed to do or you should be doing. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be doing it. Yes, you should, but you know what? Walk away, enjoy it a little bit more, and have some, like this wild wise women again, or whatever it is. Have some project for yourself as well. Something like, what is your hobby? My hobby actually is still photography, but it’s my playful, even more playful side of my photography. Actually love to travel, bit of a challenge at the moment in Europe, not sure whether people are aware of that.

But again, my time will come again. And I can tell it’s all there. And don’t push yourself too hard, because these can be challenging times. Also, I find speak to enough fellow photographers and they’re like, “Oh, it is so tough at the moment.” But if it is tough, don’t feel it is a fail if you actually find for the time being you have to find yourself an extra job. There is no shame in that at all. So to me it’s like, whatever works for you, you are here in this lifetime to have a good time. So don’t be too hard on yourself. Definitely not.

Thank you!

Thanks again to you all for joining us and a huge thanks to Abby for joining us on the show!

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!

That’s it for me this week, I hope you all enjoyed this episode.

See you soon,

Sally