How To Support Your Friend's Small Business!
I have some of the most supportive community around me. The people in my corner who are cheering me and my business on are more than I could have ever prayed for. I don’t know how I got so lucky to be friends with these people.
Today’s post is all about how you can be that for YOUR friends! Friends who are musicians, designers, communicators, photographers, etc. Sharing art is hard! But having friends who care make it so much easier. In honor of my first Small Business Saturday as a small business owner, read for some tips on how to support your friend’s small business with advice from some of my closest friends!
My friends from left to right, Ansley, Gloria, and Shyger on the last day before Shyger left to Texas for school this January.
#1 Shout Them Out
This is a great way to do give a small business’ page some attention! Share one of their posts to your story using the paper plane icon by the comment button and write something about their latest post! Be sure to tag them so they can see it! This not only, hopefully, sends some followers their way but also some business.
One of my best friends, Gloria, periodically shouts out my photo business’ Instagram on her InstaStory. Usually it’s with some weird photo or video of me, or a photo I took of her, but I have actually gotten clients and followers from her ironic shout outs.
Paula reached out to me back in September asking for my wedding photography rates. By this point I had only assisted and second shot at weddings, never doing one of my own. In her email she mentions about how she found my account through Gloria’s Instagram posts. When I read this, I died in laughter. Gloria’s “Good Morning Jake Pauler’s” shoutouts had actually gotten me my first wedding inquiry. “A lot of my friends are small business owners and creative entrepreneurs, while I try my best to support them monetarily, I can’t buy all my friend’s products and services. I know that showing my love for them through Instagram though is the easiest way I can continue to support them,” says Gloria.
Here are two posts Gloria did on her Instagram feed to support my business!
#2 Check In
Working for yourself and running your own business is tough. Probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but so rewarding. I spend long hours of the day and night editing, weekends shooting clients, and sending emails, managing finances, updating my social media pages, all while being in fulltime college and working a second job! These are all great things that I love so much, but it can be emotionally taxing and physically draining at times.
When the people around me check in on me just to check in and not to see if I am available for a project they’re working on, it is so nice to hear that someone cares. Asking how someone’s business is going or what they are doing to rest, takes two seconds of your day. One of my best friend’s Shyger is the best at this. She goes to school out of state and yet makes it a point to ask me how I’m really doing. Shyger says, “It’s not that hard. I care about what my friends care about, but I care about my friends the most. If my friends aren’t good, they can’t do what they love. Just be open and willing to listen about anything.”
#3 Pay Full Price
I’ve gotten plenty of DM’s (direct messages), comments, and texts of people who I know just from life, church, school, who say “Hey! We should shoot together soon!” I love working with friends and family. Some of my most consistent clients are friends who I love dearly! But it can get tricky real fast.
My number one tip for other creators providing a product or service, is to set boundaries! In the beginning of my business, I shot for free all the time. That was mainly because I needed the practice and the photos to build up my portfolio. Now that I am more established and have a consistent flow of inquiries, I don’t shoot for free unless it was my idea or suggestion in the first place. One of my best friends Ansley and I shoot together all the time. She’s a practicing photographer and I need photos for the gram and the blog! When it’s someone who I only know of or talked to a handful of times asking me for the free shoot, I kindly decline the offer and ask if they would want more information on my pricing guide.
I never want to come across rude or ungrateful. I never take it for granted that people want to shoot with me, but with where I’m at with my business, I have to value my own work because no one will if I’m not. Charging friends and family can be conflicting and awkward, but I have to remind myself that I wouldn’t go to a normal 9am to 5pm job for free. If they don’t respect that, then it’ll be okay! There will be other friends and family who respect you and your art enough to pay you for it.
One of my other best friends, Kristen, is in a long term, long distance relationship with her Italian-living, Brazilian boyfriend—I know. It’s like out of a movie. When they began to talk about marriage and future plans, Kristen talked to me about shooting their wedding. Because of their living situation, her being here in Georgia and him a Brazilian living abroad for school right now, they plan on having two weddings: one here in Georgia with all of Kristen’s family and friends and one in Brazil with his side. She told me she had to have me shoot her stateside wedding and then be a part of the one in Brazil! At the very least, I was thinking I’d get to be a bridesmaid, but Kristen choosing me for this special occasion is so special to me.
Here are some photos from galleries of friends who I have recently worked with! 
I am incredibly lucky to have these people and many more in my corner cheering me on. I don’t know where I would be without the support of all the people along the way who have come up behind me and supported my dreams. I’ll leave you guys with this quote from Ansley.
“I love supporting my friends and their art because I get a front row seat to see all the growth, failures, and wins. I believe in them so much. Owning your own business and sharing your art with the world is a tough, but beautiful journey. I love that I get to be a part of that journey for them,” says Ansley.
My friends and I posing on a summer day after getting dinner in the city.
Question of the day: What are your favorite small businesses you’re going to be shopping from tomorrow?