Episode 1: Valerie Lopez on starting your business venture with passion — Part 1
Our first podcast episode features an insightful and inspiring story of Valerie Lopez and Camilo Rojas of CR-eate design studio and Shoot My Travel. They tell us about their start up journey and really hone in on their life mantra “life is about the people you meet.”
Creating work that inspires us daily and using our artistic flairs to solve problems? That’s the goal for many of us launching careers as makers. The only issue that hurdles us from getting there are the now things. It takes grit to gamble on ideas and bring them to the world and Valerie Lopez and Camilo Rojas have done that, twice.
Hitting deadlines and chasing leads often distracts us from our true purpose.
“We did it because we loved it, it was our pride.” Valerie recounted the early days of starting the business whilst juggling school and her personal career as a photographer.
As we know, there is never a perfect time to start a business. Often the businesses that succeed are started in the trenches of change, debt or belief. “We saw the power of the idea and got more aggressive with it. We reached out to photographers”
As soon as they launched Shoot My Travel, Valerie received press coverage from The Guardian and the next day she had over 1,000 emails from photographers and customers.
“We learned how to do it along the way, and asked for help and started going.” With their business growing overnight, Valerie and Camilo had to learn to juggle the work while keeping a cool head.
“You can have a business idea but it doesn’t mean it’s going to take off straight away.” — Shaneika Johnson-Simms
Take feedback on board, no matter how hard it may be. “When you’re running a business you cannot take feedback personally. It’s about the business, not you”. Valerie is clear to state that her companies mission and values keep emotional, financial and judgemental problems to the side in order to focus on growing the business and building the life she desires.
I truly enjoyed my time with Valerie and Camilo and feel a pump of positivity afterwards. I strongly reccomend listening to this episode with a sharp ear and a notepad and pen — take down the quotes, tips and affirmations to allow yourself the learn from those who have found their balance of business and creativity.
Where to listen to Along The Lines
Apple Podcast |Anchor FM | Spotify | Google Podcast | Radio Public | Stitcher | Breaker | PocketCast|YouTube
Article by Shaneika Johnson-Simms
Photography by Raphael Boamah-Asare
