Blog 2: Where to Start?
If you read my first blog, you’ll know how I suddenly transitioned from employee to entrepreneur. In this post, I want to share some of the challenges, decisions, and directions I’ve taken during this shift, though I should add, this is still very much an ongoing journey.
To give structure to the process, I focused on what I believed to be the essential building blocks for starting my new business:
1. Website
By coincidence, I had already created a simple Adobe website showcasing some of my photography just a week before discovering my role was being made redundant. Whether by fate or pure chance, this gave me a little experience in website building. However, that first site was more of an online gallery than a functional business tool, so I quickly realised I would need to develop a new website from scratch and one that would be practical, professional, and client focused.
2. Choosing a Company Name
The name came together almost unintentionally. I knew that along with a brand, the company name was going to be key when it came to formalising my business identity. After hours of brainstorming (with a little inspiration from ChatGPT), I tested countless domain names before securing Vivid Shutter. The name resonates and sticks with me, and the rest as they say is history.
3. Building a Brand
Establishing a brand identity took far longer than I anticipated, but I knew it was something I needed to get right. Many logos are eye-catching yet don’t communicate what the company does unless it’s already a household name. For that reason, I combined both a logo and the business name to ensure clarity. Choosing colours, fonts, and overall style required endless iterations and valuable feedback from friends and family. After much refining, I finally arrived at a brand that I am genuinely proud of.
4. Defining Services and Direction
One of the bigger challenges was deciding how specialised my business offering should be. At a photography industry event earlier this year, the advice for start-ups was clear: while it’s important to establish a direction, in the early stages you often take on a wide range of work to stay afloat. With that in mind, I’m focusing on a clear service offering but remaining flexible, open to opportunities that help me build a diverse portfolio. As the business matures, I expect to refine my niche and become more selective.
5. Developing a Professional Website
I knew my website would be the central platform to tie together my brand, services, and portfolio. After reviewing several options, I chose Squarespace because of its strong support for visual content. Being fairly IT savvy, I wanted the independence to build and maintain the site myself without relying on third parties for updates. Through trial, error, and feedback, I relaunched the site, migrated my domain and email, and even learned about elements like favicons (those small icons in browser tabs). I designed a simplified version of my logo to use there, and made sure that I was using the same colours and style in the website, ensuring consistency across my branding.
6. Embracing Social Media
Social media has never been a natural strength of mine. My personal use was limited to occasional Facebook, daily WhatsApp, infrequent LinkedIn, and some YouTube. I had never engaged with Instagram, and Snapchat proved a non-starter years ago. However, as I began to build my business, it became clear that social media is not optional, it’s essential.
While I used to view social platforms as cluttered with advertising, I now see them as powerful tools to showcase my work and reach new clients. I’ve since set up a dedicated Facebook Business Page, a LinkedIn Company Page, and an Instagram account for Vivid Shutter. These are now part of my core marketing toolkit.
7. Business Cards
Business cards were the final piece of the initial setup. I held off until my brand and social links were in place, initially printing small runs myself with Avery card stock. This worked well during the setup phase, but I am now ready to invest in professionally designed and printed cards to reflect the quality of my brand.
Looking Ahead
You might be wondering: what about marketing and winning clients? For me, it was important to build a strong foundation first, ensuring I had a brand, website, and portfolio ready before approaching potential clients. In photography, images often speak louder than words, and I wanted to be confident that my business identity reflected the quality of my work.
I also recognise the value of taking time to reset. After nearly a 37-year career with my former employer, I’ve allowed myself space for rest and reflection while carefully planning the next steps. Now, with the essentials in place, I feel ready to move forward more actively in growing Vivid Shutter.
Until next time…