 This Month's Interview is with my friend Monika Jonaite. Monika is a UK Food & Product Photographer. She started her photography career a few years ago, during the pandemic and has since worked with several brands, restaurants and magazines showcasing her talent in food photography, food styling and recipe development. Monika was the first friend I made on Instagram through The Members club. She has always answered my questions, always helped me find my voice and given me advice when I needed it as I was starting my photography career. I will forever be grateful my dear friend! You can find her on Instagram @foodtography.with.monique Questions
CC - What inspired you to start your business? MJ - 'I was amongst those food photographers who started during Covid times. It wasn't serious at first, and before that, I didn't even know that food photography existed as a job. I have created an Instagram account just for fun to share my daily recipes. Then I saw others doing the same but for a living as food photographers and influencers. And this was how it all started: when I was approached by a brand for photography. It was all so new for me, had only just bought my Nikon camera, and now, when I look back at that image, I find it awful. But that was my beginning'. CC- What was the one mistake you've made that taught you a valuable lesson? MJ - 'I was once in a rush with a with a client's project and I delivered the gallery as soon as I finished editing, it was a very night. Next morning I regretted it because I saw the images with fresh eyes and realised I could of made a few more edits'. CC - If you were to start over, what would you do differently from the very beginning? MJ - 'To start working with brands we don't really need a portfolio or a website. However, I think a website could show others how professional you are'. CC - What trends should aspiring/established photographers look out for? MJ - 'I think every photographer should keep an eye on the food magazines, trends in the supermarkets and food TV shows.' CC - Can you describe a typical day in your life as a food photographer? MJ - 'My day as a food photographer starts the night before the shooting day. I like to sketch my visuals on the paper and write all the possible angles and supporting elements. Then I go to sleep and sometimes I wake up in the morning knowing exactly how I want my image to look like. it's interesting how different photographers approach their work. On top of that, I am a one-man band so I do the scene setup - lighting, backdrops, styling props. If cooking is required, the day begins very early in the morning, and you know, the food needs extra attention for the shooting as food styling is another profession I do for my images. So, firstly, I create the scene without any food and I take a few shots and quickly edit applying my favourite presets, because at this point the composition might change drastically. I always shoot tethered so that I can see the final result straight away and adjust. When the food is transferred to the scene, it is time for the final images. Normally, I don't edit right away unless I need to reflect on what was done. I can leave the composed scene in my studio (of course, the food cannot stay nice & fresh) , but if I need to revisit the scene is still there and I can only make a few tweaks. Another activity I never skip is enjoying food after shooting. Then, I also have admin tasks like replying to emails and pitching to brands. And normally, I edit my images in the evening and review them in the morning before I deliver the gallery to the client'. CC - How do you grow as a food photographer? Do you have a mentor? MJ - 'I believe in CPD ( Continuing Personal Development) and always try to engage in professional activities and enhance my abilities to offer better and improved services to my existing and future clients. I have a variety of professional food photography books, resources and purchased professional courses which I revisit constantly. I am also a member of Foodlight Members Club for over 3 years, where we have a fantastic and interactive community of food creatives and I believe that interaction with others like minded people like yourself, is a must in order to have a successful career and a great motivation. At times, it is difficult to cultivate yourself, but personal projects can really stimulate and push you to learn new things, and the more you practise your skills, the better you will become.' CC - How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance? MJ - 'It's not always easy and sometimes I need to work late evenings to finish my edits or I use my weekends for bigger projects. But I do think it is very important to maintain a healthy work-life balance and every creative I know, has got their own daily practices. My morning starts with a hot cup of coffee and a quick walk in the park to get some fresh air and stimulate ideas in my head. Also, I never start a shooting day without having my breakfast'. CC - How do you want to be remembered? What kind of legacy will you leave behind? MJ - 'As a food photographer, I would like to see to see my images appearing one day in magazines and cook books. My biggest dream is to write and publish my own cook book'. CC - What was the hardest business decision in business career so far and what did you learn from it? MJ - ' When it comes to the decision making, the hardest is always to put the dot on the final pricing for the client. At the very beginning I had a rate card where I was charging per image and now, in my educated opinion, that is wrong as every client/project is different with its own challenges, styling, editing time an so on. I have also learnt that to start a client's project, firstly you need to build a relationship so a face to face call is very important. Now, I don't even work with clients that are not interested in having the initial call '. CC - What was the defining moment that caused you to decide to do what you are doing? MJ - 'I Inherited my love for food and passion for cooking from my mother, an extraordinary woman who spent 35 years in the kitchen as a professional chef. I grew up surrounded by the textures, colours, flavours and aromas of home-cooked dishes accompanied by the professional knowledge of a chef. I 'love' playing with the food and products in the scene'. Thank you for your time Monika, it was great finding out more about your journey.
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 This month's interview is with Marilyn Devonish, The NeuroSuccess™ Coach, a Business Graduate, who holds a Post Graduate Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma, is a Corporate Trainer, Management Consultant, Prince2 Project Manager and Freelance Writer. She is also a Certified Trainer of NLP, Certified Trainer of Time Line Therapy, Certified Trainer of Hypnosis, Certified PhotoReading™ Accelerated Learning Instructor, Archetypal Profiling Coach, Archetypal Branding and Team Dynamics Consultant, Multi-Disciplinary Therapist, Certified Life and Executive Coach, and corporate Mental Health First Aid Trainer. She has been a specialist Remote Working Implementation Consultant since 2003, which means going into organisations to design, write, and implement remote working policy and strategy. She is also a Practitioner in EFT, EmoTrance, DNA Theta Healing, Hawaiian Huna, Access Bars, Access Consciousness, Energetic NLP, Positive EFT, Past Life Regression, Opening the Heart (OTH), Future Life Progression, and Reiki. In addition, Marilyn is a Freelance Magazine Writer, Keynote Speaker, TV and Radio Media Commentator, and offline and online Workshop Facilitator. She has been in the field of personal development since the year 2000 after giving up her Chartered Accountancy studies to become a Coach and Hypnotherapist instead. Her website: www.tranceformationstm.com Bookings & Free Consultations: https://bookme.name/marilyndevonish Instagram : @the_neurosuccess_coach Questions:
CF - What inspired you to start your business? MD - 'Sorting my own problem out. I “accidentally” signed up for a personal development training, I thought I was signing up for a communications skills training. When the course material arrived I realised it was full on personal development; NLP, Hypnosis, Timeline Therapy, and Huna. I called and said there had been a mistake and that I wanted a refund. Thankfully they didn’t just hand the money back and instead said to attend the training and if I didn’t get massive value by the end I would have my refund. I wasn’t impressed however went along to get my money because it was several thousand pounds. The rest as they say is history. I was so blown away by the transformation; I went from suicidal to excited about life, and thought how amazing it would be to work with those who actually wanted to resolve their stuff or focus on achieving their goals and dreams'. CF - What is one mistake you've made that taught you a valuable lesson? MD - 'Not following up and not following through with people I’ve met along the way. There are many contacts from the early days where it would have been beneficial to keep in touch and keep tabs. Also letting important paperwork slide and a small thing can then turn into a big deal'. CF - If you were to start over, what would you do differently from the very beginning? MD - 'Set up a trademark (I don’t recommend people do this on a whim, nor is the first thing you should do). It is because someone was imitating me, advertising in personal development magazines, using their phone number, and taking the calls when people asked for me, simply saying “Marilyn isn’t available at the moment. How can I help you?” It was wild, so I would have set up a trademark straight out the gate to better prevent someone thinking they could imitate the unique things I had created. That aside, I would have created a better funnel. I started with a one-off model, where I work with someone for 1-day doing a Breakthrough Session, and that was it, issues resolved. Limiting beliefs sorted. Goals installed in Timeline. Have a fabulous life! There wasn’t an offer for anything else because it’s a self-contained and impactful process, and, with hindsight there were so many complimentary offers and services that could have been created. Once I realised I was a content creation machine! I would have also kept a better client database from the outset. Back then, 24 years ago, technology wasn’t what it is today, however I could have put them all on a simple spreadsheet. I have go thousands of pages of glowing client testimonials however I only started collecting them a few years ago, so if I were starting over again, I would definitely do that from day one'. CF - What trends should aspiring/established artists managers keep an eye on? MD - 'Whether people like it or not, AI is coming. Will it will take off as predicted? That is yet to be seen, I do however know of organisations that have coaching bots. They could be a temporary fad, or, as the technology and algorithms get better, it could be a thing. I doubt (and hope) they never replace the power of a one-to-one coaching or therapy session with trained human, and they could nonetheless provide a stop gap and interim option. I’ve been around long enough to “never say never.” When I was at university, for example, one of my temp jobs was opening envelops at Barclaycard. There was about 20 of us on the floor at any one time, and we fed the envelopes into a paper cutter machine, then removed the payment slips by hand, separated out the slip from the cheques, and put them into another machine. I am guessing there aren’t many places on earth where that job still exists, and the machine will be in a museum because the vast majority pay digitally online. I say that to illustrate that the idea of someone getting coaching support from a bot may seem far out in this moment, however the world is changing at an exponential rate'. CF - Can you describe a typical day in your life as a TranceFormation™ coach? MD - 'Typically read through client notes if we have done a session or series of sessions before. I highlight the areas I want to check progress on. For example, if I tasked them with introducing a new habit into their day or life, I’ll cycle back at the start of the session to recap and see how they are getting on. I have been offering online coaching and online therapy since 2005, so I log in to the online virtual coaching room a few minutes before a session so that I’m ready to let the client in. My coaching sessions are 2-hours unless it’s a quick one-off. Create a few social media posts, perhaps sharing a client testimonial or think piece. If the digital asset doesn’t already exist, I’ll create it. At the time of answering these questions, I’m launching a couple of new online programs, and creating new content for my Rapid TranceFormation App, so I’ll be doing a few more of the audio recordings and processes. This will also involve choosing the intro and outro music, and mixing the track. With the new program content, that’s a mix of PowerPoint slides, PDF documents, and setting up the online portal. If I’m not creating content, I might run a Facebook live. Answer relevant messages and emails. I might also write a few ideas for my eNewsletter, so that by the time I sit down to write the next edition, the basic foundation is done and for some of the segments, and I’m filling in the gaps rather than writing from scratch. I’m also running a series of new remote frequency and Radionics sessions for clients so I will do the Dowsing, and get the next set of frequency programs set up and running. There is usually a TV break segment in the day. Today it was on old episode of Hart to Hart, and the beginning of Father Dowling because I think it’s a good idea to have a complete break state. I also start the day with a meditation and physical process. Just a few minutes, however it for me, makes a big difference to the day'. CF - How do you grow as an entrepreneur? Do you have a mentor? MD - 'I am a PhotoReading™ Instructor so I tend a read and research what’s new, emerging, or about ways to improve and enhance what I’m doing. Even though my job is to design and run workshops, I still enjoy attending them. I also do a fair bit of self-reflection so that I can test hypothesis and don’t get stuck in my ways when there could be an improvement. Yes. I have a mentor one I speak to one-to-one. I am also part of an online (international) mentoring group where they run monthly group mentoring sessions and have a Facebook community'. CF - How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance? MD - 'I start the day with a meditation, and spend time doing a couple of processes for the physical body. A few times a week I do a quick 5-minute burst on my exercise cube to start the day. Thinking talking and writing helps me clear my head and clarify ideas and I like to schedule in ‘nothing time’, where there’s no where I need to go, nothing I need to do, and nowhere I need to be. I am also a massive fan of having a Dance Break, and have been prescribing them to clients since October 2000, and using them myself since 1977'. CF - How do you want to be remembered? What kind of legacy will you leave behind? MD - 'A futurist and pioneer in the field of human potential and someone who always left the spaces I was in better and more positively enriched and TranceFormed than I found them'. CF - What was the hardest decision in your business career so far and how did it end up for you? MD - 'I could say giving up the chartered accountancy studies to become a coach and hypnotherapist instead, however the by the time the decision was made, it felt like a no-brainer for me, and was probably more confusing for those around me. Sometimes bringing things to an end. I had one workshop that I ran every year for 10 years, which has been life-changing over the years for those who attended however we decided to call it day in 2022, and I still find myself remember how much we all enjoyed it'. CF - How long do you think you will do this profession for? MD - 'I never imagined I would do 24 years so, so I will continue for as long as I enjoy it and am making a positive difference. If either of those 2 things changes, that’ll be it' Thank you for your time Marilyn, it was great finding out more about your journey.  This month's interview is with my friend Cherryl Ignacio, an Artist Manager based in London. Cherryl started her music journey a few years back and had since managed several artists and bands. Her passion and hard work comes through in every project she takes on, helping artists to build a reputation within the music industry and grow their network.
You can find her on Instagram : @cherryl_rr Questions: CF - What inspired you to start your business? CI - "After having friends in bands and music being my passion, I started helping bands with bits and pieces like admin and social media idea's. From there it then escalated into helping out at shows on weekends while still having a full time job". CF - What is one mistake you've made that taught you a valuable lesson? CI - "Saying yes to everything and trying to do everything - I have learned to have quality over quantity". CF - If you were to start over, what would you do differently from the very beginning? CI - "I wouldn't change anything as the mistakes I have made have made me better in business and at my Job". CF - What trends should aspiring/established artists managers keep an eye on? CI - "In terms of trends to always be aware of social media trends especially on TIK TOK and Instagram. What songs are being used and how are they being used. Being aware of new music coming out on editorial playlists on Spotify and Apple Music - who's on the 'New music Friday' playlists. Who's new on radio and who are topping the festival scenes". CF - Can you describe a typical day in your life as an Artist Manager? CI - "Everyday is different. Normally Mondays are admin days and catching up on everything - evaluating the week before and looking at what the plans are for the week. month and year as it always changes. Then Tues/Weds I normally catch up in person or zoom for meetings with my artists and plan out their week. Are they in the studio, festival, show, campaigning a release of music etc". CF - How do you grow as an artist manager? Do you have a mentor? CI - "You can always learn more at your craft, so I still attend networking events, go to shows in the week, take part in communities revolving around women in music or artist managers". CF - How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance? CI - "This is difficult as working as an artist manager is not a 9-5 job but more like a doctor. You're on the clock all the time. Maybe you receive emails from another country with a big time difference and they want to use a track for something, you have a matter of hours to get back to them or they move to another artist whose track they want to use. For me it's making sure i have at least a day off in the week to rest and spend time with family". CF - How do you want to be remembered? What kind of legacy will you leave behind? CI - "I want to simply just be known for someone who has helped people". CF - What was the hardest decision in your business career so far and how did it end up for you? CI - "When I have to let go of artists as the dynamic doesn't work. When I take on an artist I do a trial period for around 6 months and that's for myself as well as the artists to see if it works and only a few times it doesn't". Thank you for your time Cherryl, it was great finding out more about your journey.  My first interview is with my mentor Lucia Marecakova, a food photographer and coach, based in Turin, Italy. Lucia has left her corporate job to become a food photographer. After a few years, she created The Members Club, a place where passionate photographers learn to pursue their dreams while learning everything about photography.
She is a very passionate, kind and knowledgeable woman, willing to teach others how to pursue their photography dreams. I will be forever grateful for everything she has taught me and will teach me in the future. You can find her on Instagram www.instagram.com/foodlight.io/ The Members Club website : https://foodlight.io/members-club/ Lucia's website: https://foodlight.shop/ Questions: CC - What inspired you to start your business? LM - "Since my university times, I always wanted to have my own business. I even started a photography company, only to close it 3 months later. Wrong business partners, wrong time and place. After university, my ambition was to build a career in a corporation (human resources area). But things are different in reality than we imagine. It was after 5 years of working for a multinational, I was stuck because I didn’t want to continue working there, I couldn’t find another job, and I didn’t want to move to another town because I had just started dating my (current) boyfriend in the town I lived back then. The only option I had was to pursue a photography career and start my own business. So, I chose the relationship, as I also wanted to be flexible - whenever my partner needed to move because of his career while not sacrificing mine." CC - What is the one mistake you've made that taught you a valuable lesson? LM - "I’ve made many mistakes through the last few years, but the one I remember well was with one of my first photography clients. I skipped so many steps during the process, and it resulted in a complete failure. They even didn’t pay me and never will. There was an agency between me and the client. Back then I was a big introvert, very shy, not knowing what exactly I was doing. Looking at it now; I should have been more proactive, following every single step in the process, writing or calling the agency whenever I didn’t receive their answer within a few days; and being more pushy when the money hadn’t arrived." CC - If you were to start over, what would you do differently from the very beginning? LM - "When I think about the beginning, I wouldn’t necessarily change things. I would, however, try to focus on consistency and marketing. When I focused on growing my audience and my marketing, I was very consistent with content creation, newsletters, posting on social media, pitching to clients, and so on. Then, however, I got busy and had to stop some of the things. This is normal as when you have a business, and you are full-time there, you evaluate what you can do, and your priorities are shifting towards activities that bring you revenue. However, since that, I have never fully returned to being consistent in nurturing my audience and maintaining active contact with them. Marketing is something that doesn’t bring you revenue right now, but it shows its results in the long term." CC - What trends should aspiring/established food photographers keep an eye on? LM - "How the industry changes, styles of direction of the complexity of services that companies need. We can’t do it all and the needs of clients are growing into various services. So, what’s important is to network and create relationships with other professionals who can help you serve the client with something that you are not capable of. For example, graphic design, videography, food styling, or photography and so on. Plus, yes, AI technology is something that we constantly need to explore and include in our process to become faster at what we do. I am not talking about image-generating apps for our clients, but about certain tools in photoshop (for example), that help you retouch the image faster." CC - Can you describe a typical day in your life as a food photographer and coach? LM - "My day is not very typical for a food photographer, as most of my time goes into creating content and management of my members club, and coaching my members. I usually spend the early hours of the day on some urgent/important task; on other days, I focus on creating content for my students - organising, writing, editing lessons, etc.... Then, lunch break, quick TV series, and afternoon is dedicated to continuing on the task of the day, or some coaching calls. I usually create two block slots for each day, focusing on two tasks. Sometimes the day is full of calls, sometimes full of small different activities, and sometimes it’s all about photography and working for clients. It is very varied, and this is what I love about my job." CC - How important is it to have a coach/mentor. Should we get a mentor if we want to grow? LM - "Oh extremely. I have grown my business thanks to my business mentors I have since before I started my business. It’s extremely important as we don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time, but we can get inspired and supported and get the step-by-step process of how to build a business from them. Of course, copying business doesn’t work because you need to find your uniqueness (services); your market is different, as is your audience. But having a mentor can help you get the objective in certain situations that you can’t do yourself. So anytime I feel I am weak in some specific area, I search for a mentor who can help me improve. I know when I commit and get support there, I can learn it better and faster." CC - How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance? LM - "I don’t (haha), because I love working, I am a workaholic. My personal life is my business life. I work until I can’t, and then I do some personal activities, such as a day in a spa or knitting; it resets my brain. Then, I start working a lot again. And all this repeats. I often continue working during the weekend if we stay inside our house. I literally stop working when I physically move outside my house or when I need to prepare food for guests coming 😀. We don’t have kids, so I can direct my entire focus on my business. And I don’t mind working that much, again, I love it." CC - How do you want to be remembered? LM - "I love this question, I haven't thought about it from this angle. My mission is to build a community, where food photographers can feel inspired, empowered, and supported, with the feeling of belonging to a family, because I know what it means to be lonely in my business. So, I want people to remember me as someone who helps them to do what they think is impossible, no matter if it’s creating a successful business in photography, or creating their dream food photography images as a hobby." CC - Any advice for photographers & entrepreneurs out there? LM - "Building a business is very hard and it’s a lonely journey. There are so many unknowns, but there is a solution to every challenge. My first advice is to see challenges instead of problems, and anytime you face a challenge, keep asking yourself how can I solve this? The second advice is to join a community, and get a mentor, or coach, as you don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time and alone. There is someone who is successful in what you want to do, just follow those people and learn from them. The third last (but maybe the most important) is the mindset. Work on your mindset because this is what makes a huge difference whether you succeed or not. I see this in many of my students, and I can see how the limiting beliefs affect their potential. It takes years to work on the mindset, so start immediately and believe in what you want to achieve." Thank you for your time Lucia, it was great finding out more about your journey. |