Tanya Smith of Tanya Smith Portraits for Women: They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway

Take the time to appreciate good feedback. If you have clients who are singing your praises and who leave great testimonials about your service, save those in a separate folder on your computer. Remembering how you are helping people is a great motivator when you are feeling “imposter syndrome” or struggling. Keep that folder close

As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tanya Smith. A women’s portrait photographer since 2011, Tanya fell in love with the power of boudoir to change the way a woman feels about herself. With her keen eye for details combined with her signature Flow Posing, Tanya creates a distinctive, instantly recognizable style signature. As a newly single mom struggling to make profit in her boudoir photography, Tanya merged her expertise from corporate banking and sales to revolutionize her business.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?

Well, I’ve always been somewhat of an artist. I’ve been a painter, and I dabbled in fine art photography including still art and landscapes. When I had my kids, I photographed them as well.

Going through a messy divorce, I knew I wanted to get back to my art, and it was around that time that I had my own boudoir shoot. I loved how it made me feel about myself and when I showed my friends the images, they asked me to take photos like that of them.

At that point, the only humans I photographed were my own kids…I had never photographed women, and certainly not boudoir…but one friend really wanted me to try. So I did.

And the photos were terrible. Really bad. I didn’t even show them to her…I told her something messed up on my memory card, and we would try again another time.

But I kept putting it off.

Months later, I came across the images again, and I thought that maybe if I moved over a bit, the photo wouldn’t be half bad…or if I got her to move her leg a bit…

I tried again, and this time…the photos were better. Still not great, but better, and when I showed her- she cried. She couldn’t believe how beautiful she looked.

That was the moment I knew I wanted to do this for a living.

That feeling of showing a woman her images for the first time? It never gets old.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Right now I am working on getting my you tube channel up and running with helpful videos and topics to teach other photographers how to grow their business. I want people to know that it IS possible for them, and I want to show them.

In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?

For me, shooting boudoir is so rewarding. Showing a woman her images for the first time always gets such a great reaction. I keep tissues on my desk for when they see themselves from the perspective of my lens.

It’s important to me to show women their beauty in a safe and comfortable setting. I have a private studio, complete with an in-house professional hair and makeup artist, a female assistant and a full client wardrobe with lingerie, robes, stockings, thigh-high boots and shoes.
I will guide my clients every step of the way, so they never wonder if they are “dong it right” or if they look silly.

Every woman leaves my studio feeling like a supermodel- and that’s before they even see their images!

Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?

I knew I wanted to be a boudoir photographer, but I had a rough start.

My ex kept telling me that I “wan not good with numbers” and that I “could never be able to run my own business”. Even my divorce lawyer told me “no-one makes money in photography” and told me I would need to “get a real job”. And yes, I fired him!

It was hard at the beginning, but I knew there were others who were able to make a really good living from photography, and if they could do it, there was no reason why I couldn’t as well.

And it was important to me to be able to be available for my 2 young kids who were having a hard time navigating this new reality of going back and forth between 2 houses, moving to a new city and making new friends. Being my own boss would give me more flexibility.

It took me a few years to realize that I needed to run my business properly, but after awhile I started to turn a profit..then I came up with a simple method and my bookings and sales skyrocketed.

Now I have a thriving and profitable studio making sales in the mid 6-figure range AND i have another business of teaching other photographers who they can have the same success.

Overcoming negative voices from others, and from myself, was difficult, but I knew if I kept moving forward, and the fact that others could do it…why not me?

In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? :-)

I’m currently building my dream home with my new (and improved) husband. I call it “The House That Boudoir Built”.

I’m teaching others how to do it too and I have so many success stories from boudoir photographers all over the world who say my training and teachings have changed their business and their lives.

I don’t need to prove anyone wrong…but it feels pretty good knowing I did it in spite of the naysayers.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Without the support of my husband, Mark, I may have given up when things got difficult.

I remember one day, I was so frustrated. Things were not happening fast enough for me, and I was having a bad “tech-day”, and there was so much that I needed to do. I said to Mark, “I’m not sure I can even do this!”. Mark looked at me and said, “Tanya, you are already doing it.”
That really hit me, and he was right. Looking at how far I had come, I saw that I WAS doing it. I had a business that was successful and thriving.

Surrounding yourself with positive people who believe in you is so important and helps you get through the tough spots as a business owner.

It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?

My parents and especially my dad, always told me that I could do anything. If you try hard enough and you are willing to learn and make mistakes, you can do whatever you want with your life.

I’ve always been a big reader and that also helps because anything you want to learn is available to you. I really believe in learning from others who have gone before you, and now we have the internet and online learning. There is so much available to us so that we can do anything!

Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)

1. Stop worrying about what others think, and asking other people their opinion on what you are doing in your business. Unless those people are your ideal audience it does not matter what your mom or your best friend from high school thinks about your business strategies, pricing etc.
2. Remember to keep moving forward. Being in business means some days are great and some….not so much. As long as you are able to make progress each day, no matter how little, you will see success, and you will be ahead of 90% of other business owners.
3. Take the time to appreciate good feedback. If you have clients who are singing your praises and who leave great testimonials about your service, save those in a separate folder on your computer. Remembering how you are helping people is a great motivator when you are feeling “imposter syndrome” or struggling. Keep that folder close
4. Do your numbers! This Is your business, not a hobby. Yes, numbers are not the most fun part of business, but if you are not tracking your results, or figuring out your cost of doing business, how will you know if you are successful?
5. Remember that you can do hard things! I’ve always said this to my kids, but it relates to business as well. Business does not get easier, you just get better.

What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?

I’ve always loved the quote from the Tom Hanks movie “A League of Their Own”. The whole story is a great lesson about resilience and perseverance, but when Tom Hank’s character responds to one of the women playing on the team who is crying and saying it’s too hard for her, and she wants to give up. He says, “of course it’s hard. If it wasn’t hard then everyone would be doing it. It’s the HARD that makes it great”

I love the message, that it’s ok for things to be difficult, but you can still do them-even if they are hard. And sometimes, ESPECIALLY if it’s hard.

I tell my kids that all the time: You can do hard things.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

It may seem overly simple, but just be supportive of each other. Don’t offer opinions that are not helpful. Before you speak ask yourself:

1. Is it kind?
2. Is it necessary?
3. Is it true?

If it is not all 3 then don’t say it. words can do harm and you never know how what you say can affect someone, good or bad.

Can our readers follow you on social media?

Absolutely, you can find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tanyalsmith.photography

Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!