Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in fine arts but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Joshua Budhanlall, Owner of Darkstrand Visuals, located in Saskatoon, SK, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Dark strand Visuals is a photo and video production company based in Saskatoon, SK. Our goal is to create meaningful visuals to tell your stories. Whether that's the love of you and your partner on your wedding day, your nitty-gritty story of overcoming struggles, or anything in between - we're here to bring your life to light.

Tell us about yourself

Darkstrand Visuals started out as a hobby to keep me sane while I was in Software Engineering. I would mainly photograph friends for fun, but eventually, people would start asking me my rates for whatever project they had. Fast-forward a few years, and finally came to the realization that sitting behind a desk frantically perusing my code to find my problems (spoiler alert: it was the missing semi-colon 457 lines earlier) was not the life I wanted.

I decided at that moment to drop out of school and try and turn my passion into my career. The thing that motivates me to keep going at this harder every day is that it just does not feel like work to me. Sure, some projects/clients can be demanding, but overall, these have been the best 3-years of my life. I get to wake up and make art every. Single. Day.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

It's definitely gotta be the time that I was hand selected to do videography for a Wine, Women & Well-being event with 800+ people featuring special guest Kaitlyn Bristowe. What an amazing feeling that was to be selected for such an event!

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of the hardest things about being a business owner is, without a doubt, admin. I hate it so much. Just kidding.

I'd have to say keeping your goals on track. While being your own boss is awesome and all, it can sometimes be easy to veer off course from your goals by pushing them back or sidelining them.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Network. Go to events, tradeshows, coffee meetings... literally any opportunity you have to promote yourself, go to it.
  2. Find ways to give back to the community.
  3. Don't give up! Running a business will most certainly not be easy. And you will likely work 2x as hard as a regular job. Keep your end goal in mind, and remember that in the end, this will (eventually) all be worth it!

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Be sure to take time for yourself. Go to the lake, read a book... make time for self-care. Burnout is real and sucks!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://darkstrandvisuals.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darkstrandvisuals
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darkstrandvisuals/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-budhanlall-158503225/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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