𝘼 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙚. 𝘼 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜. 📸✨

CEO students spent the morning with Rachel Gierich, owner of Rachel Gierich Photography, and she pulled back the curtain on what it REALLY takes to turn a creative talent into a successful business.

Because being a professional photographer involves a whole lot more than taking great pictures!

Rachel walked our students through nearly every piece of her business:

📸 Finding and attracting customers
📣 Marketing and building a brand
💬 Client communication
⚙️ Creating systems and streamlining processes
💻 Editing and delivering the finished product
💰 Pricing your work and knowing your value
🛡️ Insurance and protecting your business
🏢 Owning and operating a brick-and-mortar studio

It was an awesome real-world look at how many hats an entrepreneur wears — and how intentional you have to be about the entire customer experience, not just the product you sell.

One lesson especially stuck with us:

“𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌.” ❤️

People may come to you for a product or service, but the way you make them feel builds relationships, creates loyalty, and turns customers into advocates for your business.

Rachel also stressed something we believe deeply in at CEO: 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘. Give back. Build relationships. Support others. Become part of something bigger than your business.

And Rachel absolutely 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀. ❤️

Year after year, she generously donates her time and talent to 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑬𝒅𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆 𝑪𝑬𝑶 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕, investing directly in the young people in her community.

Rachel, THANK YOU for continuing to invest your time, talent, experience, and generosity into our students. They walked away with fantastic new headshots — but, more importantly, a much clearer picture of what it takes to build a business, serve your community, and create an experience people remember.