Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in photography but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with J.D. Small, Founder of J.D. Small Studios, located in Lansing, MI, USA.

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

I am J.D. Small, a commercial photographer based in Lansing, Michigan, with many years of experience. I help businesses across the United States with their photographic needs, primarily for marketing and advertising.

Tell us about yourself

In my Cub Scout Bear handbook, there was a diagram for printing your own photographs. I loved creating photographs from age 6 when my mother gave me a camera using 620-size film and waste-level viewfinders. I saw the diagram and thought I could save money for processing and printing my photographs. I started reading everything I could find on photography. While I was a Boy Scout, one of my friends earned his Photography Merit Badge. He had a nice display up. After the group meeting, I made a beeline to Jack and asked how he did it. He told me. Then next afternoon, after school, my mother took me to Lansing to buy the kit I needed to get started. That night we had 24 inches of snow which kept our schools closed for nine days. During that time, I created photographs and went right into my new darkroom to process and print them. I earned my Photography Merit Badge, and from that time, my only focus was on photography.

During freshman year in high school, I was asked by an upperclassman if I would create photographs for the stories he was writing for the Lansing State Journal. Of course, I said yes. A few weeks after working with the Lansing State Journal, I went to our local Williamston Enterprise and started creating photographs for their stories. Gradually my name got around, and people from all over the community were calling me for photographs of all kinds. . . family portraits, senior portraits, business portraits, product photographs, building photographs, aerial photographs, and restoration photographs.

During my sophomore year in high school, I started thinking photography would be a fun career. I wrote Eastman Kodak and asked about colleges. They sent me a catalog of all of the photography programs available in the United States. At that time, I found only two that actually offered degrees in photography. I chose The Rochester Institute of Technology.

My initial application was rejected because the program was full, but one of my friends' fathers, Roy Olson, wrote the college a letter encouraging them to consider me for the first opening. He may have had several other people write letters, also. A few months went by, and RIT accepted me into the Professional Photography program.

My interests seemed to focus on architecture and products. My second-year professor, Terry Bollman, was an architectural photographer, and I was both fascinated and drawn to his work. He taught me many techniques that helped my career substantially. In the third year, I concentrated on product photography and portraiture with two outstanding professors, Ron Handy and Henry Leightner. Forth year, I concentrated on architecture with an independent study with Terry Bollman.

After graduation, I served two years of active duty in the United States Army Signal Corps. My job title (MOSD) was Motion Picture Director, and I was assigned to a unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. When the unit I was assigned to was moved to an installation near Atlanta, I was transferred to a Signal Unit as a Pictorial officer.

After service in the Army, my wife and I made a temporary move to Rochester, New York. My intentions were to return to Michigan and build my photography business. We moved to Rochester for 8 years. I worked in sales for all of those eight years, but during our 5th year, I received a call. A real estate agent called me with a studio for sale in a small town south of Rochester .. . the same town where my college was located. I toured the studio, asking the price of $50,000, and asked how long the owner had been there. He said five (5) years. I thought . . . if I built a business here and in 5 years could sell it for $50,000, that would be a nice start to a business in Lansing, Michigan. I had been "knocking on doors" and selling for five years . . . selling for someone else . . . building territories for someone else . . . the next day, I made my first sales call for J.D. Small Photography.

I built a fairly substantial business in Rochester, and in 1986 we moved to Michigan. I started my business there, and by 1987 I was running a full-time photography business with up to 9 employees. I had clients from all over the world and was creating photographs for companies across the United States.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Keeping a business in operation for over 55 years.

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

Keeping all of the balls in the air. Typically photographers go into business because they like photography. Sometimes they are good photographers. Running a business and building a business is different from creating photographs, and often times photographers are not good at running a business and building a business. Learning to do all three is the hardest thing a photographer has to do.

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

  1. Learn all three aspects of running a business. I suggest starting by reading The E-Myth. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It Paperback – October 14, 2004, by Michael E. Gerber.
  2. Business owners need to continue learning throughout their careers.
  3. Reading is vital. Join networking groups, both in like professions as well as groups of prospective clients.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.jdsmallphotographer.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jdsmallphotographystudios
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/j.d._small_photography/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdsmall/

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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