We recently had the chance to connect with Kinzie Tweter and have shared our conversation below.
Kinzie , we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: Have you stood up for someone when it cost you something?
Boundaries as a small business owner! Unfortunately, with social media and instant gratification has become a new shift in clients, thinking they have unlimited never-ending access to business owners. It has put us in an awkward position to stand up for our rights as a human being to have time in space for ourselves. I think this has been one of the biggest growing pains of having a business in today’s day and age is the younger couples getting married are used to having everything at their fingertips in a moments notice and they struggle with patience. It has been a huge growing pain of mine to learn to stand up for myself as a business owner and reference people back to the contract on what is to be expected, it’s a definite unfortunate part of being a business owner, but when I am very proud to be practicing more often these days.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi Friends! I am a wedding photographer, business owner and mother of 5! Yes you read that correctly, 5! My brand is unique in that we began overseas while my husband was stationed in Italy, and I have moved multiple times due to the military. This naturally gave my business a more widespread presence which is why you see us frequenting so many different cities and referring to them as home base. We tend to split our time between multiple places depending on the season and this really allows us to have a unique business model in the wedding world.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
As an early business owner, I’d say in the first half of my ten years, I was really focused on always saying yes. I think early on I thought I would grow my self but it led to a constant over extension and people walking all over me and not valuing me. I felt saying yes was a form of power when in recent years I’ve learned the real power is in boundaries and saying no. I tend to be a people pleaser and in recent years I’ve had to learn it’s okay to say no. And sometimes in fact, though challenging, it propels you forward. This year we had a fifth baby. It came with so many challenges. Hyperemesis (this is vomiting 5-30 times a day, hospital admissions for IV fluids, non stop nausea meds) and preeclampsia (blood pressure so high you’ve entered seizure territory). This is a very challenging way to carry on shooting weddings and presented multiple challenging situations, where I had to say a lot of nos. It was brutal on me, I hate to excessive boundaries and say no but I and my business are better for it. I’m ultimately so proud I was able to say no and protect my peace where needed. I learned that for the most part, those who have always respected you as a human will continue with love and support and those who questioned you before will continue to. You can’t win them all and that’s okay, saying yes when you shouldn’t be ultimately doesn’t swing the vote of those who doubted you before. This is a hard lesson to continue to learn.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
All the dang time. People can be unreasonable, demanding, out of touch for what is really the reality with small business owners. The more I educate my clients on what to expect I do feel it gets better, but every few months along comes someone Jo is out of touch that puts me through the ringer and I consider why I am doing this. I definitely always find myself again by reminding myself I LOVE capturing people. And I do believe it’s my gift regardless of some challenges that have presented. I give every ounce of me into capturing my couples and I believe it shows in my work and the experience my clients have the day of their event or wedding.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes and no. I am very outgoing by nature, I love humans as whole and so I think the public version of me is very bubbly, personable, socializing and connecting with everyone, takes charge, could work non stop for hours an end type of vibe. The non public me would love to sit in the sunshine, hide from social media, and hang out with my kids. So yes the public version is me, but I’d say it’s half of me. I’m very yin and yang in myself. I have two modes of very different operation, but they are both very much me.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What light inside you have you been dimming?
I think to touch on the previously mentioned aspect of boundaries. That’s such a weird thing to mention as a light inside of me, but I have previously not executed any boundaries between business and myself. Learning to have business hours, take back some part of my personal existence, say no when things don’t fit well with my overall life and needs is an okay light to shine. Protecting my mental health and physical wellbeing has been such a huge step for me specifically in the last year. And the more I set boundaries and stand up for myself the more I feel strengthened. As business owners we are viewed a bit as a machine and it’s okay not to be one. And in fact pouring back into myself and taking the time I need has made me a better business owner and artist and I cannot wait to see how this light continues to shine. It’s been a bit rocky transaction because some clients have expectations from other business owners or previous experiences and think certain things are standard. But I know coming out the other side of this, that it’s for the better to be able to respect myself as a human as much as a business owner.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.lolamango.com
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/lolamangophotoandfilm
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/lolamangophoto
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