Dawn is an Oregon-based wedding photographer turned business educator. At home in Bend, Oregon, you can usually find her playing with her two little girls or defending myself in Nerf gun fights against her husband. She love to travel and photograph love stories all over the world, and is most passionate about helping other creatives reach their fullest potential. In this episode Dawn talks about best tips for branding yourself in a way that allows you to pivot, her journey to creating a membership and how she’s navigated business to create a 7 figure business.

Dawn Charles is a wedding photographer and with her own online academy to train and provide resources to fellow photographers. She developed her passion way back in her college days, and did her first wedding shoot in 2009. Dawn knew then that this was her purpose, and in 2013, she was able to dive into wedding photography full-time, and became an educator to other photographers shortly after.

 

Dawn’s biggest mindset shift after getting into business for herself was realizing that she needed to delegate tasks. She realized that, even if she could do what she needed to do better than everyone else, she would still be spreading herself too thin, which will lead to burnout sooner or later. She came to value her time over her money. By having to dedicate too much time and effort on menial tasks, Dawn knew that she would never be able to focus on the bigger picture and drive her business forward.

 

Another process that took Dawn some time to master was the marketing and launch strategy for the products that would potentially produce passive income. She acknowledged that many entrepreneurs (especially creatives like herself) tend to focus more on the product than actually getting that product into people’s hands.

 

As an entrepreneur, you need to stay agile and flexible. Dawn recommends that you create an authentic, service-driven personal brand that nurtures know, like, and trust in your followers. By building your tribe out of a following that is loyal to who you are as a brand, they will be more than happy to consume whatever you create as your business evolves.

 

Listen in and learn how Dawn developed a personal brand that allowed her to not just grow her business as a wedding photographer, but also gave her the opportunity to create and market various digital products and an online academy for fellow photographers. We would love to hear your thoughts and any questions you may have can go right here in the comments! Enjoy!

 

Let’s dig into the highlights!

About Dawn Charles, her story and her career [1.12]

Did school contribute to Dawn’s career in business? [2.55]

Deciding on becoming an educator in the photography space [4.13]

Dawn’s biggest mindset shift as an entrepreneur [5.21] 

Creating multiple sources of passive income [7.00]

Dawn’s first digital product [9.18]

Creating a brand for yourself that will allow you to diversify and pivot with relative ease [12.02]

How Dawn developed her online academy [15.40]

Challenges encountered while creating an online course [21.11]

An example of a big failure in Dawn’s business and how she overcame it [22.58]

How to connect with Dawn [25.17]

Links Mentioned:

Website: www.dawncharles.com, www.dawncharleseducation.com, risephotoacademy.com

Instagram: @dawn.charles / @dcpresets

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