Check Out David Byrd’s Story

Today, we’d like to introduce you to David Byrd.

Hi David, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My artistic journey began when I was a kid who was old enough to draw, write, and spend countless hours playing in a field with a stick that doubled as the magic sword and a red bath towel pinned around my neck, ready to fly through the sky.

I live in a world of make-believe, purely driven by my imagination, and I am fortunate to now have a career pursuing a living for my family and me through that imagination. My professional photography career began in 2008 when my wife and I opened our first portrait studio. We learned on the job both the vital aspects of business and marketing, as well as the art of photography and Adobe Photoshop.

Since that time, I have grown to become an award-winning artist and educator, and now forging my path forward through the return of a portrait studio that is providing a new take on artwork that has become stagnant in the market.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A smooth road? Absolutely not.

Much to my chagrin I spend countless nights laying awake wondering if we are going to survive.  This road has been long and very turbulent.  In the beginning our main struggle was learning the tools of business and marketing strategies that helped our brand enter into an unpredictable market.  The challenges with art (Photoshop, photography, lighting, posing) were overcome with practice and diligence.

To develop a brand that provides a service to clients, you must begin with understanding your value proposition to the client and developing the best customer service practices to support that.  A dear friend has spent years trying to educate me on this topic and thankfully he never stopped offering his wisdom.  Value is ultimately affirmed in the eyes of the customer and the value proposition must align to be financially successful.  Too many business owners turn to lower prices, or sales and deals to try to appease the market.  When I began to understand value and how to align that to the customer, the results began to appear.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My brand is called Legend by David Byrd and it is primarily known as a boudoir photography studio.  Boudoir is a rapidly growing genre and from a business perspective it is one that clients (in my opinion) should invest more in the artwork, given the vulnerability needed to create it; sales and deals aren’t enough to convert clients.  The artwork must be there, it must be the alluring factor for the client to engage with the service – more so than “hurry and act now!”

Boudoir photography does not capture the scope of what I offer to my clients.  My approach to all of my artwork (beyond just boudoir) is based on storytelling.  I learn my client’s story; where they have come from, why they need the artwork at this point in their lives and how they define themselves at the stage.  Communication is key to achieve this and I spend time having conversations with my client, rather than impersonal questionnaires to discover their story.  Because of this practice, my work is separated from what the vast majority in this genre offer to their clients.  It’s ultimately one of the aspects of my business that I am most proud of.  I connect with my clients and focus on the experience they have, rather than volume to maximize yearly profit.

Are any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
For my artistic work I listen to a lot of music.  Music is the primary catalyst to my imagination and it often motivates the work that I create.  For my business life and good mental health, I listen to a lot of creators that share their wisdom on various platforms.  Currently I’ve been taking in a lot of content from The Futur (www.youtube.com/thefutur)  He is brilliant at marketing and brand development – as well as a great public speaker which is key to teaching (as I have discovered in my seven years of being a teacher myself.)  Another book that has changed the course of my working life is The ONE Thing: Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan.

Thank you and may I review this one more time as I think I discovered the errors in the above answer – the word I was substituted for He which made it appear as if I was saying that “I am brilliant at marketing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bethelegend.com/
• Instagram: @legendbydavidbyrd
• Facebook: @legendbydavidbyrd
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/realityreimagined
• Other: www.photoshopartseries.com