Anja Poehlmann is a filmmaker and award-winning photographer for families and small businesses. Going full-time just before the pandemic challenged her to dive into how to build an authentic brand that communicates with her audience in a way that aligns with her values and goals.
Anja’s main goal with all her work is to instil confidence: in families by showing up as their real selves in photos that will help children grow up knowing where they belong and in small businesses to show up authentically to their audience to build real connections with those they want to serve.
Throughout the past 4 years, she has learned a lot about marketing and running a business and how to use photography and video to support her brand message as well as help her clients do the same. With a background in video production, she focusses on visual storytelling to build connection and drive engagement as well as capturing images that evoke an emotional response in the viewer.
Thank you for interviewing with us today, can you introduce yourself to us?
My name is Anja, I’m originally from Germany but I’m now based on the south coast of the UK, just outside Brighton, where I get to enjoy the seaside and hipster coffee shops. I’m a photographer and filmmaker and work with families and businesses to tell their story authentically with the aim to cultivate confidence and acceptance within my clients.
Can you take us through your journey to where you are now?
I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school and decided to go for “something with media”. Somehow I landed in television after university and started photography as a hobby during an internship in Hawaii.
Thanks to limiting beliefs, working in a male-dominated industry and no female role models, I didn’t ever strive for running my own business. Although I did register my photography business as a side hustle in 2010. However, I stayed in full-time employment, working in video production because it felt safe. In 2014, I moved to the UK and stayed with what I was familiar with – employment.
Until I had enough of the company politics around me and started listening to my friends to offer photography and videography as a freelance creative. That was over 4 years ago – only half a year before the pandemic would bring a halt to my attempt of making money from a business that relied on in-person contact.
I made it through a tough few years and learned as much as possible about running and marketing a business while building a client base that would allow me to live of something that started out as a way to document my life on the other side of the world a long time ago.
Today, I run a successful photography and video business, have had my work exhibited nationally and internationally and won awards for my photography.
Since starting, have you made any changes to your business model?
When I went into full-time self-employment, I didn’t have much of a business model. I’m a creative, not a business person – I had to learn business. So over time, I made many changes and I suspect there are more to come over the years.
I changed my offerings, my pricing structure, my marketing and anything in between. Not all at once but little by little.
Have you ever had a mentor? If so how has this benefitted you either personally or professionally?
I have a few mentors, some of them might not even know they fill that position for me. I have a wonderful network of amazing people I can learn from. But I haven’t hired a mentor as such.
My mentors are people in my industry as well as other professions. The huge amount of knowledge I can benefit from means I understand how to deal with mistakes and how to navigate running a solo business that has so many challenges in areas I’m unfamiliar with. Without the support and guidance of my mentors and my network, I probably would have closed my business a few years ago.
What outlets do use for marketing?
I use a mix of online and offline marketing channels. As a visual person, Instagram is my main platform but I’m also very present on LinkedIn now. My website is my main storefront so SEO is crucial for people to find me via google.
But what I love to use most is connecting with other people in real life. Networking has a bad rep but if it’s “done well”, it can really make a difference, especially for a small business. Most of my work comes through word of mouth, not only from past clients but people I’ve met and built a relationship with.
What or Who has inspired you most recently?
Life inspires me. And the people I meet.
I can get very excited about an idea, a plan or even a proposition if the right person introduces me to it. Passion is contagious and someone’s excitement about anything can inspire me – to try something new, to explore an idea or to move out of my comfort zone.
What is the best piece of business advice you have received to date?
Price yourself based on your own cost, not based on what someone else charges.
Also, you’re allowed to change your mind.
How do you create an evenly balanced work and personal life?
I don’t think my life is very balanced. I love my work and I let it take over a lot. I’m working on that.
But I try to make time for my friends, my partner, my hobbies and remember to celebrate wins – not matter how big or small. Appreciating my successes makes it easier for me to take a break and look after myself rather than spend all day every day running this business.
Name a seminal point in your career so far?
A couple of years ago I was approached by a German book publisher to shoot a project for them. They found me on google and were working on their new English text books for German kids. I used their books in school myself when I first started learning English. This first email resulted in a 3 year working partnership that has had it’s highs and lows but ultimately was a huge confidence boost for me.
This project is something I’m incredibly proud of and something I never ever would have dreamt of. It showed me that I’m being noticed and seen and that my work and its message can reach the people I want to work with.
What gives you ultimate career satisfaction?
Getting responses from my clients and their excitement over how much they are in love with their photos is the ultimate satisfaction for me. My work is not just about something or someone looking nice, it’s about my clients recognising themselves and loving the outcome. We’re all so critical about our own appearances and hearing someone say that they love their photos – while usually they hate every image of them ever taken – is the highest praise I could get.
Are there any leading entrepreneurs or SME leaders that you admire and if so, why?
I don’t have a single person I look up to or admire. There are so many impressive characters, entrepreneurs and business owners out there and thanks to the internet and podcasts, I get to take a lot of inspiration and learnings from a wide range of fantastic people. There’s nobody I would be able to single out at this point.
How do you define your own success?
Success to me is doing something that aligns with my values, brings me joy and enough money to live a comfortable life. I’m not striving to grow my business massively, grow a team and reach a 6 or 7 figure revenue. If my work helps other people become more confident and more aware of the beauty in their life, then I feel like I’ve succeeded in my mission.
I see the photos I create as my legacy. Having others appreciate what I do for them, is my success.
Finally, what can we expect from you next?
I’ve got a lot of ideas and plans for offerings and projects but only very few of my ideas usually get put into action.
My goal is to become the go-to photographer for small businesses and families along the south coast. We’ll see if I can achieve that with the help and support of my network and my own grit and dedication to the goal.
https://www.anjapoehlmann.com/
