Meet Annette Matthews | Personal Brand Photographer

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

Hi Annette, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk taking is something that is a must in entrepreneurship. We take risks all the time by investing in our businesses with the aim of making it go further and become a success, by choosing the niche we have and sometimes by taking on more that we should at once. Having a successful business is not easy and risks become rewarding in the end. We have to overcome our fear. I need to stop being afraid of failing and do more things that will live on. What I’ve learned is that I need to have the courage to take risks to create more opportunities for my future. This plays a huge part in the success of my business. My goal is to profit off of these opportunities that I am creating for myself when I take risks.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

Annette Matthews Photography is a personal brand and lifestyle portrait photography business. I’ve started my business around 2016 and took things seriously in 2018 when I began to join photography groups of successful women and men who look like me who were doing what I love and being successful at it. At the top of 2020, I figured out what I loved the most about photography and that is photographing and helping to elevate small businesses by way of photographing them and their brand.

I start photographing as a kid. My mom always had a camera in her hand and as I grew older, she purchased my first camera and I barely put it down. I was always the one who would come to an event or gathering with a camera. I was always ready to create memories to look back on and seeing these images on print always excited me.

I got to where I am by attending conferences and workshops to help hone in on my craft both front end and back end of my business. I learned a lot of business sense and applied these things daily even when I didn’t have clients. Practice make perfect and I practiced my craft almost daily to ensure my clients are getting the best out of me when I am hired. Things are changing fast in the world and my way of keeping up is spending a lot of time thinking of new ideas and possibilities for my current and future clients.

Having a successfully ran business is not as easy as it looks on the outside. I learned the hard way that having the right systems in place is something that I needed to get ahead of the game. In fact, recently I’ve added a new service to my business. I now offer photo booth rentals.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Being new to Dallas, I have limited places that are my favorite, but I do have a few favorites so far. One of my favorite places top on the list to eat is Ida Claire in Addison, then The Common Table in Frisco, my favorite dessert place is Cookie Society in Addison, and one of the enjoyable places to hang out is Downtown Dallas at the AT&T Discovery District.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There is not one single handed person I can name who has had my back through my business journey. I have a quite a few of friends and family who have pushed me to be great at what I do. They have encouraged me to be who I am. I am a very adventurous person and that same group of people encourage me to aim high. They have my back and talk things out with me when I have hard decisions to make. These individuals do not project their own fears onto me but encourage me to be safe along the way of my journey. I am empowered almost daily by my accomplishments due to the uplifting that my friends and family give me.

Website: www.annettematthews.com

Instagram: @annettematthewsphotos

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

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrDbpHPmIZxvn0U7iZMlBkQ

Image Credits
Annette Matthews Photography