the mentoring sessions // 2016 – cristina

This year, I intentionally built time into my photography schedule to take on ten mentorships. Teaching has always been important to me, but I’ve never purposely made time for it until now. A mixture of fear and an overstuffed schedule held me back. I finally realized that if I wanted these sessions to happen, I had to make the space for it, and I’m so glad I finally did.

When I announced that I was ready to take on ten mentorships this year, I was legitimately terrified. I thought I’d be lucky to have even 1 or 2 people interested. But, my heart is for teaching, so I took a chance anyway. If I’m being honest, I’ll probably never evolve to the point of being completely “fearless,” but I’ve learned to be brave in the face of fear and push through anyway. So what if no one is listening? If you’re speaking from your heart, then your message matters, YOU matter. Your dreams and goals matter. Be afraid, but push through anyway, because a life filled with regret is scarier than anything else you might be afraid of.

At this point, I have 7 of the 10 spots filled, and I’m so grateful.  To be able to sit down with someone, listen to them excitedly talk about their business goals, and then help them come up with an action plan to achieve them is such a gift, and it’s one that I do not take for granted.

So, this begins my 2016 series of the ten incredible people who decided to take a chance on me as a photography and business mentor. My first session this year was with Cristina of Glover Photography.  She’s an aspiring portrait photographer who is ready to grow her business and take things to the next level!!! She has so much talent, a winning personality, and a heart for children, families, and capturing authentic moments.

We talked about:

• pricing for profitability and sustainability
• how to attract your ideal client
• effective social media strategies
• and, how to capture authentic moments in an artful way

We covered so much during our time together, and her enthusiasm was so inspiring!  Cristina’s heart is on fire for achieving her business goals, and I’m excited to watch her grow and succeed in the coming months.  You can learn more about Cristina HERE and HERE. :)

These are some of my favorites from her personal branding mini-shoot.  Scroll down to read her thoughts on the mentoring experience:

“Jenn Ayres is an incredible mentor, totally committed to teaching and developing photographers. By keeping me focused, yet providing an unbiased point of view, she helped provide me with a clear vision of where I want to be and the steps I need to take to get there. She devoted her time to understanding my dreams, goals, and aspirations, and provided untold amounts of support, advice, and encouragement.  She is a dynamic woman who by coming from her heart, has a unique insight and tremendous ability to connect with people where they really are at, inspiring and nurturing them to move in a positive direction. In spending time with her and her family, I have grown to consider her a wonderful teacher, mentor and friend. My business is continually growing in all areas by leaps and bounds thanks to my mentoring experience with Ayres Photography.”

Interested in growing YOUR business this year??  Click HERE to learn more!!

Read more testimonials HERE.

mentoring sessions // spring giveaway and special pricing!!

If you have already checked out our mentoring page at some point, then you’ve read a little bit about the history of Ayres Photography, and the reasons why we offer mentoring/coaching sessions, but I’d like to take it one step further by explaining our philosophy in a little bit more detail.  We have been offering these sessions for about two years, and we’ve done them here and there as they popped up, but we’ve never actively made them a priority.  This year, we’re planning to change that in a big way!

We’re kicking off the official launch of our mentoring sessions with special pricing for the month of February and a giveaway!!

Read on to learn more!

Teaching is super important to us.  Helping others learn, grow, and achieve their goals is something that we’re extremely committed to.  Why?  Because if WE share our knowledge/expertise with you, and YOU become a better (smarter, more confident) photographer/business person/human being, you will then grow into someone who will go on to encourage others, and THAT cycle of people helping and encouraging others makes the world a better place!

• We believe that mentoring is a tool to help people reach their highest potential much faster than they ever could on their own.  (We know this is true, because it was true for us, too!)
• We believe in promoting a sense of community within the photography industry, and a sense of unity among creative entrepreneurs in every field.  Community over competition is the core of our philosophy.
• We believe in empowering people to succeed by sharing our experience, offering encouragement, being good listeners, and educating with kindness and empathy.  We will help you recognize and build upon your strengths, and help you build confidence in your areas of weakness.

Right now, we are offering three different kinds of sessions, but we will be adding to those throughout the year.  You can check out our current offerings here.  From now until the end of February, you can purchase a session with us at a very special discounted rate, so definitely take advantage while you can!!  These sessions are open to photographers and creative entrepreneurs at all levels of experience.  Check out our Mentoring Session FAQ’s for more info!!

Due to the amount of time and energy we invest into these sessions, we can only take on TEN people in 2016, and currently there are only EIGHT spots left!!!  If you’ve been on the fence about doing a mentoring session, NOW IS THE TIME to hop on it!  Want to experience a mentoring session for FREE??  Keep reading!!!

// GIVEAWAY!! //

We want everyone to have the mentoring experience, but we also know how tough it is to invest in yourself and your business when you’re first starting out.  In keeping with our philosophy of promoting a sense of community within our industry, we’re giving away one of our “Ask Us Anything” one hour mentoring sessions to one lucky blog reader!  (And, if you’re doing the math, that means that there are only SEVEN spots left for 2016 Mentoring Sessions!!)

Here’s how to enter:

 1. Comment on this blog post with why winning this session would be the best thing ever!

2. Head over to our Facebook page, and comment on the pinned post about this contest.  (To score a BONUS entry, you can also share the pinned post!)

You must do BOTH of these things to qualify as an official contest entry.  We will be checking!!  On February 29th, the winner will be selected via random.org, and announced on our Facebook page.  Good luck, friends!!