Year 1 of TCP!

February 22, 2024

Personal

1 year ago today, I officially became a business owner! Thank you to everyone who has supported my little hobby- you have no idea how much it means to me!

I like to tell people that this business started with my little YouTube channel (which currently has over 1,000 subscribers and is still public 😬).

Soooooo, in high school, I started a 3D origami club with my friend. After being Co-President of the club for three consecutive years, I wanted to make the transition as smooth as possible after my senior year. I figured the best way to do that was to make video tutorials and upload them to YouTube!

I started this channel in 2020 when I was 18 years old, and making videos was basically my quarantine hobby. After some time, making videos felt more like a chore than something I enjoyed- I would sit down for 3+ hours to record videos on my phone, and then I would edit each video for 10+ hours.

However, one of my favorite aspects of the process was editing photos to make light and airy YouTube thumbnails, Instagram photos, and Pinterest photos! I spent so much time scrolling through beautifully curated Instagram feeds (Jillian Harris, Amy and Jordan, and Katelyn James to name a few!), and I really enjoyed the process of editing and curating images.

Eventually, the YouTube channel started growing and I thought it would be fun to have a camera to take better videos. I hinted to my parents that I wanted a camera, and they were so kind as to buy me a camera for a Holiday present in 2020. The minute I got the camera, I wanted to learn how to take photos (and pretty much completely abandoned the YouTube channel). I saved money to purchase one course to take over winter break (and I crammed 20+ hours worth of content into one week). From there, I started taking pictures of my lovely friends (and my spoiled cat) to practice!

One of my first ever photos of my cat, Pinky!

My first session with my friend, Emily!

After a few months (November 2021), I asked my parents if I could get my business license, and I was told a hard no. Their reasoning made sense- I would be busy with work, pharmacy school, and I probably wouldn’t have enough time to successfully run a business. I was a bit sad, but I decided to start designing a website and a variety of style guides just in case they changed their mind one day.

Fast forward to January 2023- I attempted to have a little headshot fundraiser for an organization in pharmacy school! I was so nervous- I never took headshots before, but I knew that if this fundraiser was successful, it would be very profitable for the organization! After spending three days taking approximately 72 headshots and countless hours editing, my parents finally agreed that maybe starting a business wasn’t a bad idea. They helped me file for my business license, and my LLC became effective on 2/22/23😊

After filing for my business license, I used every minute of spare time (and some Drug Delivery and PK classes🤫) finishing up my website, determining what CRM and gallery delivery service to use, and figuring out my prices, and I would bug all of my poor friends to confirm my choices (and they were all very sweet about it).

I have had so many fun shoots throughout the year, and I am including some of those below!

First, prom photos! These were taken when it was 40°F outside, but all of them were amazing!