Meet Taylor Gordon | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Taylor Gordon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Taylor, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My thought process behind starting my own business was that I wanted to be in charge of my future. I wanted to make my own money, and be the sole reason to blame if I wasn’t making money.  This sounds blunt, because it is!

When I started my business, I was 29 years old and had been in the fitness industry for about 5 years. I went to college for Sports Management and thought that running my own gym was my end goal. I worked long hours in a sales department, to make other people a lot of money. But me? I was struggling to make ends meet. I was so tired of it and burnt out.

To top it all off, I wasn’t the only one that was tired of it.

My four year old son, Jaxson, was not yet in school. So everywhere that I went, he did too. I used to take him to daycare, go to work, spend my lunch break picking him up from daycare, and then bring him back with me to the gym. When we got to the gym, he would go into the gym daycare until it closed, then sit in my office and color, or play with toys until we left around 8pm.

It was LONG days for me, but even longer for a child. I felt terrible. Not only was I missing time with him, but I wasn’t making enough money for it to be worth it. Having him ask me why I had to work so much, was really my turning point for my career.

My kids are my world and my life is so different now that I’ve started my own business.

What should our readers know about your business?
I am a photographer based in Benson, NC. I photograph families, engagements, weddings, and entrepreneurs/small businesses (branding photos). Most of my clients are now in the Raleigh area but my business really became a reality in 2019 when I started taking photos of my friends in Illinois. One session led to about 25 one weekend! I would fly from Raleigh to Chicago just to spend a weekend taking photos in my hometown.

Once I realized I was having to turn people down because of my then work schedule, I decided to jump in. This was not easy for me or my growing family at the time but I really had the push and encouragement from my family and it was exactly what I needed.

Although success in my business came at a rapid speed, soon after, covid happened. All of a sudden I had taken this leap and the world stopped. I knew I didn’t have a back up plan and I had to pivot. I started thinking of ways to be able to market my business without being able to offer sessions. I decided to start offering FaceTime sessions. This sounds crazy, because it was! I would FaceTime with families, pose them, screenshot the video, and then edit them. These were obviously only for social media because of the quality but people LOVED them! I also offered to edit clients cell phone photos to give them a more professional feel. These were a hit as well and helped me gain some social media presence.

I was very lucky that in NC I wasn’t held back long. Restrictions were lifted and photos could be taken as long as you stayed so far away from families and wore a mask while working.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned with owning a business is that the experience you give your clients will either make or break it. Referrals are everything! I have a few clients that have easily produced 10 new clients for me. I am so thankful for them. But I know that the experience I gave them and the photos I produced were worth bragging to their friends about. And that makes me so proud.

Starting my own business was not easy. It was not instantly profitable. The reason I am where I am today is simply from being resilient. My motto with my business is that there is always a client for me, I just haven’t found them yet. I’m constantly trying to find ways for people to find me!

What I want the world to know about my story is that before I started my business, I worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, and I was hardly getting by. I could have chosen to do this for the rest of my life because it was safe and I knew I had a paycheck coming every two weeks. Instead, I took a chance for myself, my son, and my future family. Now I spend my mornings in the school carpool line, my lunches with my daughter on our patio, and my evenings at home with my family. I work my own schedule and live a life I’m very proud of. Like Snoop said… “I’d like to thank me”….. and a ton of other people for pushing me 😂…. I think he left that last part out.

My advice to future entrepreneurs is to just go for it. My only regret is not taking the leap sooner.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Benson, NC and it is honestly the best small town just south of Raleigh. Benson is only 90 minutes from the ocean and only a few hours from the mountains. I love the area because it has it’s small town perks but I can also be in downtown Raleigh in 30 minutes. I truly truly love where I am and love sharing it when friends and family visit.

If my best friend was visiting I would take her to Salvaged Heirlooms in Benson first. It is the cutest shop owned by my friends Chris and Angel. They sell locally sourced home decor, gifts, and food products and also serve local beer! Sip and Shop…what is better than that?! They offer fun things like permanent jewelry, trivia nights, and random fun parties! Their motto is “Come as strangers, leave as neighbors”, and it honestly couldn’t be more true. I’ve met so many people from this small town while shopping in this store and grabbing a beer. I’m thankful that it exists!

In Raleigh I love going to concerts at Red Hat Amphitheater. Honestly, some of my favorite memories in NC come from a great night at Red Hat. It is such a vibe on a summer night and has fun restaurants and bars all around it for before or after the concert.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are many people that deserve a shoutout for my success. I think being a young(ish) single mother, I owe a lot of recognition to my son, Jaxson. He has always been one to brighten my day, since he was little. The questions he used to ask me, along with my drive for providing him a great life, truly did light a fire under my butt career wise.

My family. Zach, Jaxson, and Maeve, and my best friend, Bekah. They continuously support me, encourage me, and love me through any hard times I have had.

My friends Katelyn and Jazmine Kemp for booking my first ever paid shoot and encouraging me to take my business full time.

My Dad also deserves a special shout out. At times when I’ve been really down, he has reminded me of what’s important.

I have also had mentors along the way that really taught me to have a good heart, and to stay positive. Keola (Vic) Victorino, who used to encourage me through very long days in the sales world, and Hal Wertich who I used to coach basketball with. They both mentored me in different ways, but I find myself falling back to small quotes or lifelong lessons they instilled in me often!

Lastly, John Haskins, my college basketball coach. He recruited me from a small town in IL and brought me to NC on a scholarship. My first two months being in NC so far away from my family I think I cried in his office twice a week. Without his love and support, I would have went back home to my small town comfort zone. He always pushed me to be more than I thought I was capable of and I have remembered that in my adult life.

Website: www.taylorgordonphotography.com

Instagram: @taylorgordonphotos

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TaylorGordonPhotographyNC