From Studying Education to Building a Boudoir Business
Episode Summary
Welcome back to Not So Ladylike! Things have changed a bit around here since you last listened, so I have an update for you before getting into the episode today. Katie and I started Not So Ladylike in the beginning of 2022, and had so much fun together creating for it! We decided to pause for a while, and then since feeling more freedom in our schedules and less stress on us, have decided to pivot the podcast. So since Not So Ladylike is now part of my brand, I thought it would be fun for you to get to know me a little bit better, starting with my background and how I got into boudoir.
I’ve always had an interest in art, and in high school was the president of the art club and the drama club (3:47)
I went to school for art education, and loved being in the classroom (4:21) until I realized I was burnt out on my coursework
I started taking portraits and did boudoir mini sessions with my friends in 2018 and LOVED it (10:05)
I started my business in 2019, just a couple weeks after graduating college (15:22) and pulled spreadsheets from the first year of my business so you can get a sense for what the beginning was like – spoiler alert, it was hard AF
Thanks for listening to Not So Ladylike! If we aren’t already, I’d love to be friends on Instagram – you can find me @EleanorElaineBoudoir. And before you go, I’d be so appreciative if you’d leave a five star review wherever you listen to podcasts and tell a friend about today’s episode! Any friend of yours is a friend of mine.
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Episode Extras
Listen to Katie Stahl’s The Cookie Cutter Podcast on apple podcasts, and follow her on Instagram @TheKatieStahl
Some of my first portaits:
To see some of my first boudoir photos from that marathon we did with our friends, you can follow this link to a blog post all about it!
Transcription
Hello hello! Welcome back to Not So Ladylike! Things have changed a bit around here since you last listened so I’m gonna give you a quick update before we get into it today!
So as you know, my best friend Katie and I started Not So Ladylike at the beginning of 2022. We released weekly episodes for like, 9 months until we realized we were the most burnt out by our podcasting schedule and the workload on top of our full time jobs, relationships, and our various responsibilities. So we decided to hit pause for a while, and then since feeling more freedom in our schedules and less stress on us, we have decided to pivot the podcast.
So with that being said, Not So Ladylike is now an extension of my brand! Katie will still be on regularly – because as you know if you’re a longtime listener, we always have something to talk about – but there will also be new things happening around here! You can expect more solo episodes with just me to talk more about my business and my brand and what I do, and to hear some new voices too! I’m already planning an episode with my mom, so stay tuned for that in particular. She’s a hoot and a half. Really, she’s two whole hoots if we’re being honest with ourselves.
So since Not So Ladylike is now part of my brand, I thought it would be fun for you to get to know me a little bit better! So let’s get this show on the road. I’m Eleanor Elaine and you’re listening to Not So Ladylike.
When I was a kid, I wanted to do a little bit of everything, but my first recorded dream job was the title of princess. You know in Kindergarten or like, first grade when you’re tasked with drawing or writing about what you want to be when you grow up? My friends wrote things like doctor, teacher, veterinarian, scientist… and here I am writing princess.
Which totally makes sense. I have memories of days spent at my nan and pop’s house – I grew up in a small town in southern IN and my nan and pop lived just a couple blocks away from the bank. So Nan and I would walk down to the bank and of course, I’d put on my finest outfits: a princess dress accessorized with the little plastic high heels that go along with it. I’d clip clop all the way there and back like the Queen invited me to tea or something. Like I was the shit.
Even though I wanted to be a princess first, I think everyone is multifaceted and I am no exception. Along with that princess side of myself, I also had this really curious side. I could often be found playing detective, or after watching Spy Kids, pretending to be a spy. And I can remember taking soil samples from the backyard, writing little notes and solving puzzles and cyphers, and examining rocks from the garden. And speaking of rocks, my nan still has a rock that I put in the very back of her fridge when I was 3 or 4 years old, which is hilarious to me.
But if you were to ask my brother, he would say I had quite the bossy side too. I would make him play school allllll the time, and I would make him do worksheets and tests and activities and grade him. I just loved being in charge.
So as I got older, I had dreams of having my own business. I remember this one business idea super clearly. I came up with it in maybe the 4th or 5th grade. I wanted this coffee shop slash bakery that was open in the afternoons and evenings. And I imagined it on the little strip in my hometown. I wanted a place where I could do my homework and have a little treat. And I remember drawing the storefront – and I can see it really clearly in my mind. I drew this big sign above the door shaped like a crescent moon – because I was gonna name it Luna’s. And I was so excited.
Also throughout my childhood, I’d often be found watching Out of the Box with my little art set in front of the TV, drawing and painting along with them. I was always super super creative. Throughout school I knew I wanted to be a teacher, and as I grew up I decided I would be an art teacher. In high school, I took all the art classes I could and spent all my free time either in the art room or in the theater. And not to toot my own horn, but I was president of both the art and drama club my senior year (and co-president of the spanish club – again, obviously I love being in charge.)
So when I graduated high school, I knew I would be pursuing a career as an educator. During college, I was an assistant in an art classroom and did my student teaching in a middle school which was SO fun, and truly a highlight of my life. The kids were so funny. And I have probably a million stories from my semester student teaching. But as I worked my way through undergrad, I slowly started to realize that I wanted more freedom in my life than teaching could offer me.
Along with that, I grew up watching my aunt as a teacher, which is part of why I wanted to do it too. During the summers I would help with her bulletin boards, and we would co-teach summer school programs, and I’d help her get everything ready for each year. I loveeeed being at school, and honestly I still do! I think I could definitely still be a teacher, but as the rose colored glasses came off once I was actually doing the work in schools, I realized how overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated teachers are.
Teachers are expected to work outside of their contracted hours, take on extra responsibilities after school, fund supplies for their classrooms out of their own pockets, and those are just a couple little reasons why teaching wouldn’t work for me right now. On top of that and a long list of other things teachers have to deal with – Teachers, honestly, I don’t know how you do it. Big big love to you for doing that work. On top of all those things, I just don’t and can’t give a shit about standardized tests or dress codes or committees, and worst of all, I really really hated the active shooter drills.
So let me tell you this story. We had a drill once when I was student teaching, and I somehow didn’t get the heads up that we had a drill scheduled. And normally I would for like, earthquake drills and fire drills, someone would let me know that it was coming but for this drill nobody told m. So when the time came, and they announced on the speaker that there was an active shooter, I had no idea if it was a drill or if it was real. I remember crouching in a corner of the room that you couldn’t see from the door with my class of seventh graders, having to be as quiet as possible and still hearing my heart pounding in my ears. And I was thinking to myself that my supervising teacher was a lot more chill than I was, so surely it was a drill. But also no one told me we were going to have a drill so maybe that’s just kind of his vibe under pressure? And I remember having all these thoughts and thinking, you know, it’s my job to protect these kids, what happens if a shooter does come in our room? Around that time, I heard someone walking in the hallway, and our doorknob rattled. And completely honestly I could’ve shit my pants. It turned out to be just a drill, thankfully, but I’ll never forget how terrified I felt in that moment.
On top of all the other things, I realized that I had really idealized being a teacher before I knew what the job was actually like. You know, all I had ever dreamed of was a classroom of my own, an abundance of art supplies, giving my students a safe space to explore their creative sides and feel safe just being themselves with me. But teaching is so so so much more than that, and I knew if I went into it right after graduation I would become burnt out super quickly once that reality set in. So top all of that with just being less and less excited about the career, I think it goes without saying that I was ready for a shift.
So let me back up a little bit. A couple years before my student teaching. So luckily for me, the opportunity for something new came when my friend Katie Stahl – who also has a podcast, and definitely inspired this one! I’ll link to her podcast and socials in the show notes – Anyway, she told me about a job opening that was gonna be available working alongside a local photographer as an assistant. And she’d told me a little bit about her job as an assistant and what she did and I was like, honestly that’s perfect.
I was working as a Resident Assistant on campus and technically, could only work 10 additional hours outside of that job. So I was like, honestly this is great. This is the perfect little part time gig, and so I started working as a personal slash photo assistant during college! And it was perfect for me; I had the opportunity to learn new things and add new skills to my resume, and the work was different every day. So I started this job a couple years before I did my student teaching, and at the time still really wanted to be a teacher. But this felt like a fun “for now” job – and it was challenging, it kept me on my toes, and it was my first taste of a quote unquote real job.
Over the course of those next couple of years, I continued working on my Bachelor’s degree I slowly got promoted in my job and I began second shooting weddings and boudoir and taking on more responsibilities at the studio. Over those years, I began to realize that I really loved going to work, and I really didn’t love going to class. My mom would hate to hear this, but I skipped class more often than I would like to admit. And about my junior or senior year I felt like I was just finishing what I had started because I knew that I wanted to have my degree that I had worked hard for but I had this feeling start that I didn’t think I was going to use it.
So you know when you have like, a knowing feeling in your gut? So I get this intuitive knowing a lot, and this was one of those times. So as I started to come to terms with that, I had to sit down with myself and do a lot of introspection about what I really wanted for my life and what I valued. And some of the things I valued were having freedom and being in charge of my time and my space. And I had kinda started to realize that teaching wasn’t going to give me those things. You know, when you’re a teacher you have to go to school. And even though I would get the summers off and breaks here and there, that didn’t feel like freedom to me.
So backing up a teeny bit: in 2017, I had started a little Wordpress blog for fun, and I’d been taking photos for my posts and my Instagram with the DSLR my mom got me as a high school graduation gift. And it was around that time when the lightbulb above my head went off and I started to consider photographing people. I had been doing it a little bit at work, and I decided to test my hand at portrait photography on my own with my two best friends as models. I’d been seeing so many YouTube videos about how to pose people and I was like, you know what? I’m gonna give this a try. And my best friends were the absolute best models ever. But I was not good at posing or editing, like at all.
So I had to teach myself how to use Lightroom and Photoshop. I did take one digital programs class in college but my professor was absolute garbage and I had to struggle through creating in Photoshop and Illustrator. And I don’t know how I passed, I think he just didn’t know what was going on. So anyway, I did a lot of teaching myself through YouTube and things like that. And those early days taking portraits were rough with a capital R! I wasn’t used to editing skin tones at allllll, so some of the photos look a little, like, otherworldly if you look at them too long. Like one of them in particular – both of my best friends were redheads, and I was trying to make Kate’s red hair pop and her skin turned a little purple and I didn’t know how to fix it and … UGH it’s just bad. But looking back, it’s clear to see that I had an eye for composition, and had so much potential! I’m gonna put some of those first photos in the shownotes for you, and they will the best of what I got for sure. There are a few shots from these first experimental photo shoots that I’m still really proud of. And it’s really cool to look back and see my progress over the years to see how my self-taught skills have evolved as I’ve learned more and grown in my craft.
So then in 2018, I decided to finally try my hand at boudoir. I was introduced to boudoir through my job, and I loveddd the experience of it and seeing the confidence it brought to our clients and all of that. So I gathered all my friends and we went in together on this huge AirBNB and had ourselves a boudoir marathon! Kate helped me plan and execute the whole thing. She made the most gorgeous, perfect charcuterie boards and she did everyone’s hair and makeup. And I took photos of each of my friends back to back until the sun went down. So I’ll put some of those first photos in the shownotes too so you can see our lil set up and some of the photos that I’m really proud of from that first little foray into boudoir.
Our last set of the day was some in the shower and the bathtub, and then once we were done we went to get sushi together and ended the day. After we got back, I was sitting at the counter editing the photos while we hung out and ate the remnants of the charcuterie, and there were sooo many photos that I just loved. I was so impressed with myself and all I could think was how beautiful my friends were. There are photos from that very first marathon that I’m still just really really proud of to this day. I had a lot of thoughts about like, oh, maybe I’m just getting lucky sometimes, whatever. But I think truthfully I do have an eye for it, and I can see it really clearly in those first photos.
After that I saw changes in my friends too, which was the absolute best part. I saw them break up with shitty boyfriends, become more confident in their bodies, pursue their dreams and be really honest with themselves about who they are and what they want. And I saw them taking up more space in the world, and you know, I’m sure that not all of that is because of their boudoir sessions, BUT I can’t help but think that it did give them a lil confidence boost to do all of those things.
Anyway, from then on, I used any spare moment I had to work on the back end of building a business of my own. On vacations I was drafting email templates, taking calls for collaborative shoots, attending webinar after webinar to learn about marketing and editing. And there was one time when I was in Florida with my family and they made fun of me for coming down to the beach late because I was on a call for a collaboration and I had a webinar scheduled,and I just had a little work to do before I could come down and enjoy the beach. I was relentlessly reading blogs, and listening to podcasts, and taking my camera with me everywhere just so I could practice every chance I got.
But anyway, rolling back to 2018 when I was student teaching. I had to leave my position as studio manager because there just weren’t enough hours in the day for all the things I was doing. My last semester of undergrad was the most hectic. I was planning on moving to Bloomington after I graduated and in with my partner at the time, and I had begun moving things little by little every weekend, but during the week I was absolutely swamped. To give you a little peek into my life that semester: I did my student teaching 7am-4pm every day, and then three days a week I drove 40 minutes to campus for a night class that I had to finish before I could graduate. And then after that, I would stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning every day working on my website, my pricing, branding, marketing, alllllll of the things for my business and I was just absolutely burning the candle at both ends, and running on fumes for those few months. It was the most exhausting time of my life.
But I just kept telling myself that things have to be hard before they can be fun. It just has to suck a little bit before you get to the good stuff, you know?
So anyway, in between work for school and work for my business, I was doing everything I could to just get my shit together so that as soon as I got settled in my new home in Bloomington after graduation I could hit the ground running. So I completed my degree in December 2018, moved to Bloomington full time, and then launched my business in January 2019, just days before my 23rd birthday!
That first year, I did everything I could to get my business off the ground. I was full time in it as soon as I started, and I remember having people asking me how I did it and how I was doing it. To be honest, I don’t remember giving myself a deadline or anything, I had saved up like $3,000 so I had the peace of mind of knowing I would be able to afford my bills and to be honest I just told myself it was time to sink or swim. In my mind, the worst case scenario was that I gave it a good try and could get a teaching job or some other job if I couldn’t make it work. But I knew this was my chance to give it my best effort.
That first year I booked any kind of session just to make ends meet - I shot couples, engagements, seniors, families, prom portraits, headshots, personal branding, I mean you name it, I shot it. I did anything I could, and the hustle was reallllll. That time in my life and that last semester of school were the most hectic. I really can’t say it enough, I was doing everything. I was working around the clock to try to “make it” in business. And I’m not gonna lie to you, the first six months of that first year was roughhh. Really, the first year itself was rough!
I just pulled up my spreadsheets from 2019 to give you some insight into what year one in business looked like for me financially…
In both February and March, I made less than $300. It got better from there, but I only brought in 12 grand that whole year… half of which went to my expenses for the business. So when I say I made no money, I mean I made noooo money. And I really think that one of the only reasons that I was able to make it work was that I lived with my mom for half the year and I didn’t have to pay rent. Halfway through 2019 my partner and I broke up, and I moved out of our shared apartment and back in with my mom, and I commuted to Bloomington every weekend for sessions. Huge huge shoutout to my mom and my supportive family! Truly without them I would not have been able to do this.
That first year, I found a studio space I loveddd in Bloomington and began renting monthly alongside other creatives and entrepreneurs, and I decided to try to fill up my calendar with only boudoir. That’s what I really loved shooting the most, so that’s what I decided to niche down and focus on. I hosted my first round of boudoir mini sessions to kick things off, and I was lucky to completely fill all the spots I had available and spent that first day photographing seven babes in the studio for the first time! It was sososososo much fun, and it was the first time I realized that I could really make it work shooting just boudoir. That I didn’t have to do everything just to make ends meet.
Buttttt my calendar was still filled with all types of sessions until I did my second round of boudoir minis a few months later. And I decided this time that I was gonna start an Instagram account dedicated to my boudoir work, and I think that’s what really took things to the next level. I started really intentionally marketing myself on that account, reaching new people, showcasing my work, things like that. After that second round of minis, I started booking full boudoir sessions regularly for the first time, and I started getting more and more clients that I didn’t know, which was a huuuuge win!
Up until then, I had seen a lot of familiar faces in the studio: my friends from college and people I met in Bloomington, and so many of my clients would drive up to Bloomington from Evansville which made my heart feel so happy!! The support I saw that first year from my friends really kept me going. And it was when I started getting clients who I had no connections with that just found me on Instagram or through word of mouth or whatever that I really felt like I was succeeding. But even then, it was a lot of hard work. And I mean, it totally still is!
My business has completely taken off over the last few years since it began. I went from those $200 months spent anxiously hoping I wasn’t burning through my savings too quickly to doubling my revenue year after year. I’ve built something from nothing that sustains my life and makes me feel absolutely on fire to get to work every day. And I get to work with some of the coolest people on the daily and to be honest, I just feel so honored that my clients trust me to hold this space for them. Because what I do is more than just taking pretty pictures. I’m holding space for people to be themselves and see themselves honestly and I just think that’s so powerful.
But it can definitely be stressful knowing that I wear all the hats and am in charge of everything. Even though I love to be in charge, knowing it’s all on me to get things done and make the decisions can be a lot. It can be a lot feeling like if I’m not working, then nothing is getting done and I’m not making any money and that feeling has caused me to push myself beyond my limits more often than I’d like to admit these last few years. But I’m getting better at keeping my boundaries in my business – something that I will talk more about another time! I’m just always learning and growing. I love love love this work, and I’m so stoked to have had the opportunity to follow my dreams from the start. Again, thanks to my supportive friends and family and my incredible clients-turned-friends.
Anyway, that is my story: how I went from studying education to building a boudoir business and I am just so thankful to have been able to share it with you.
