Today we’d like to introduce you to Janneth Flores.
Hi Janneth, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hi! My name is Janneth Flores! I just turned 25! I’ve been doing photography for about 2 years and 6 months! I’ll turn 2 years as a full time photographer June 30th, 2022. I used to work full time Chase prior to becoming a full time photographer.
My journey with photography sort of started unintentionally. I actually got fired from my full time job back in June 2020 during the hard core phase of the pandemic!
I bought my first camera from target (Rebel T6 to be exact) a few months before getting fired from my job because I really wanted to take pictures of my kids! I started doing cute “themed” sets for them and take my camera to a park and do Easter, Valentine’s, Christmas pictures, etc, for me to cherish forever!
Slowly some of my close friends & family started asking if I could take their kids & family pictures! I’ll never forget one of my friends asked “How much was I charging” I remember telling her $40 and she gave me $100! I was so shocked and excited that I actually made $100 for taking someone’s pictures! Shortly after my first actual paying client, I started picking up little weekend sessions here and there but had no clue what I was really doing, I just knew, being behind the camera felt a lot more than just a hobby.
Fast forward to a few months after buying my camera, I was fired from my full time job. I remember calling my husband, giving him the news and he asked “why don’t you seem upset”, and I told him, I had to use what I had in my possession, keep pushing, no one is hiring during the middle of a pandemic and I just knew I never wanted to work at a bank again! He said he trusted me, and he would support me 100%.
Fast forward to September 2020 I was fully booked for that month! September had just started and I had work Every. Single. Day!!! I had lots of outdoor sessions at local parks, and created a little studio set up in the smallest room in my house and slowly started to become extremely crowded in there.
I remember just being in absolute shock! I was so excited, nervous, scared, I was a ball of emotions!
Photography was still so new to me, I took on lots of classes on YouTube university, I started researching ways on how to make my photography business successful, I started studying my clients, what they liked, what they didn’t, what I could improve on. Shortly after that, my business started to grow at an extremely fast pace! Late September we officially signed a contract for our first commercial studio space. It was a small studio suite, about 300 sq ft, it was small, but it was a lot bigger than the bedroom I was using at my house. There was a point when I had so many people visiting my home studio, I just knew for my peace of mind, it was time to take a big step into my new career.
Things started to get super fun after that!
Creating different set up, lots of investing in backdrops, studio equipment, we started creating a client closet, so much was happening all at once. By the time December came around, we had already ran out of space in our studio. We, unfortunately, had to terminate our lease earlier than we anticipated, but we had found a 1200 sq ft studio space and we just knew we had to take the risk! We had only been in business for 5 months. We had no idea if business was just good for that period of time, and it would slow down, or if we were really doing something right! Every month after September, until now, we have been fully booked at lease 2 months in advance! In less than 6 months, we officially became a 6 figure business!
Here comes January 2021. It was a new year, new studio, new goals, new equipment, and we are more excited than
Here comes January 2021. It was a new year, new studio, new goals, new equipment, and we are more excited than ever!
We renovated the studio from inside out! We invested a lot of money into the space to make it work for us! It was perfect and we couldn’t be more proud!
Business kept growing at a pace we just never imagined! We started having clients travel from all over the United States, Washington, California, New York, you name it! We felt incredibly blessed! We continued to grow, we continued to invest, and 6 months later, we knew we had outgrown our 1200 sq ft studio. Owning over 100 couture gowns, we no longer had space for what we truly wanted to do! We started searching for a studio, and had no luck!
Although, things were going great, just like every business, we had a major bump on the road! And this was a big one!!
I was on my way to get new phones at T-Mobile after my session coming from the galleria, and I left my camera backpack along with all of our equipment in the back of my SUV. Within less than 15 mins, I look outside the store window and see shattered glass all over the ground by the back of my truck and see a car drive off super fast. I immediately knew, I was about to walk out to the biggest loss I could imagine.
All my equipment was gone.
Camera, SD cards (with hundreds of clients images), lenses, battery packs, everything was gone within a blink of an eye.
All my hard work, sweat and tears were stolen from me.
I invested a lot of money in my equipment 6 months before they stole everything. The first thing that I said, was “My clients memories are gone”. I remember crying, thinking how was I going to explain this to clients who have trusted me with their memories, clients who travelled out of state to work with me, clients who suffered years of infertility and finally got pregnant, clients who can never get pregnant again, how could I possibly explain that someone stole that from them. I felt horrible, irresponsible, disappointed, disgusted, all at the same time. All I could do was cry! I really thought that was the end for Dreamy Moments.
I took a deep breath and tried to think this through.
I went live on my Instagram, showing my supporters that sometimes things will come at you, when you least expect it, unfortunate situations will try to knock you down, and that there is evil people in this world that we cannot change, BUT we can change how we react to these things.
I whipped my tears, I filed a police report and I started making phone calls to a local camera store. I called and asked for the best camera they possibly had! I didn’t care what brand, the model, I just needed the best thing they had in stock because I knew I had a responsibility I had to accomplish the next day.
The best thing they had was a Canon R6. Once the police finished filing the police report I remember speeding to the camera store and they were nice enough to let me in even though they had already closed about 20 mins before I arrived. I purchased the camera and had less than 24 hours to figure out how to use a whole new camera, going from a DSLR to a mirrorless…. I was freaking out a bit.
I got home, I started messaging everyone who was affected by the robbery, and I was honestly surprised the amount of compassion and support I received from my clients. Many were able to reschedule without an issue, and the ones who travelled out of town were aware of the situation and were very understanding about a refund.
That was for sure the biggest loss I took, it was very unexpected and it all happened so quick.
The next day, we had 4 clients which 3 were coming from out of state, we continued to operate like nothing ever happened.
I truly believe God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers.
2 months after our biggest loss, things started to feel a little bit more normal. The amount of growth we’ve done from there to now has been truly unexplainable! I can’t believe how much we have grown and continue to grow despite of what could’ve been the end of Dreamy Moments.
Fast forward to January 2022, our lease ended in December 2021, so we found a new studio almost 3x bigger than our previous space, and we have worked so hard on this studio to make it perfect! It has taken me longer than I anticipated since a lot of the work I’ve had to do myself with my own hands! We are about 90% done with the studio. We hope we can complete it by the end of April! It definitely has been challenging since we continue to be extremely busy, we’ve been traveling a lot more for photoshoots out in California, New Mexico, New York, and many more to come! Our success had definitely been challenging, but so rewarding. Being recognized by Voyage Magazine, The Shade Room, and other well-known social media influencers has definitely been a reward we never expected especially this soon!
I never honestly ever imagined I could be doing photography for a living! To wake up and do what you love most, is really a feeling almost impossible to explain! Most importantly, I cannot explain the gratitude, the love, the appreciation, I have towards my clients. They have been my rock through my toughest moments, they have became my teachers, and many have became friends! My clients are my most prized possession.
Thank you for taking the time to read a little about our story!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My journey has not been easy, on the contrary it has been quite the challenge but the key is to always find a way to make the best out of the situations you cannot control.
I believe everything business will have some hiccups along the way! In order to win something, sometimes you have to lose something.
Aside from financial business challenges, many other challenges come with owning a business.
Being a mother and owning a business is definitely not for everyone! So I applaud the women who do it!
It is very difficult handling both being a mother and running a business, while being a wife, and having a social life!
Separating work and personal was such a challenge for me in the beginning phase of our extremly busy days!
I would be so focused on my clients, working everyday, I slowly started to loose a bit of my focus from my kids. I hate to share this, but it was very sad when my kids grabbed my planner, and wrote “Play date” one of my “off” days.
I couldn’t believe, even on my “off” days, I would still work, wether it was replying to emails, editing, etc, I would catch myself working.
It was overwhelming trying to figure out how to run a business all on my own!
After that day, I had to risk my business for my kids, and If you ask me, I’m sure any mother would do the same. I took control of my life back. I cut off weekends completely. Weekends are dedicated to my kids and family. I started eliminating the amount of time I spend on a phone or laptop, and I created a schedule where I can still pick up my kids from school, and have my afternoons free for them.
I feared that my business would slow down, or that people wouldn’t be able to accommodate to my schedule, but I remained consistent, and I mean, I’m still so incredibly blessed to be booked months in advance where I only work Tuesday – Friday 3 hours a day!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Dreamy Moments Photography focuses on Luxury maternity and motherhood sessions. We also specialize in boudoir photography!
Dreamy moments photography is not only known for the luxurious photography sessions but also for the insane couture closet we have available to our clients.
We currently own over 200 couture gowns and counting! We love to bring everything together for our clients! The less our client has to worry about on such an important day (besides your wedding day or the birth of your child) the better!!
As a creative director we ensure your day runs as smooth as possible, we take care of getting our mamas pampered with a professional hair and make up, we ensure we book our clients a unique and beautiful studio for their photography session, and we bring the creativity everywhere we go!
We love everlasting memories for our gorgeous mommy’s to be and mothers
I’m proud of many things we’ve accomplished during the short period of time of becoming a full time business, but I would have to say I am mostly proud of the growth I have given myself, mentally, emotionally, physically as a person and as a business owner! I’ve learned how to run a 6 figure business, all by myself, I’ve figured out how to still be the best mother and wife I can, I’ve figured out how to be the best manager, customer service, accountant, investor, handy person, and the best photographer I can be to my clients!
We are currently focused on Growth!
Growth in every aspect of our business!
We are focusing on finishing our new studio sets, we are focusing on creating different unique studios, and finding our 2nd location for many other creative ideas we cannot wait to announce!
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
My clients are always so shocked when I tell them I’m 25 and we’ve only been in the game for 2 years!
We have so many plans for Dreamy Moments Photography!
I hope we can continue to bring many of you along our journey!
Contact Info:
- Email: Dreamymomentsphoto@gmail.com
- Website: www.dreamymomentsphotography.info
- Instagram: Instagram.com/dreamymomentsphotography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dreamymomentsphotography/
- Other: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdfRLmLP/
Image Credits
Photographer @dreamymomentsphotography
Hair & make up stylist for @David.Artistry Studios | @cocomar | @noirstudiohtx | @aquanoir | @montrosestudio
