Today we’d like to introduce you to The James’s.
The , we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
We are the Jared and Mesi James. We’ve have been interviewed previously by this publication. However, over 10 years ago, we were knowns as RAW Passion Photography. Over the years, we grown our photography company to into events and our own photography studio. We are now known as The Photo Shop Atlanta, home of the $20 photo shoot for any occasion. Since started our photography brands, we’ve learned that simple is better. We’ve eliminate the confusion of setting fees, copyrights, and limiting photos for our clients. We’ve streamed lined our booking process with simple policies with a goal to make sure every clients has the best experience. We take the headache out of booking a photographer.
We are serial entrepreneurs, small business owners, and most importantly a team. Our motto is “Teamwork makes the dream work”, which is also the name of one of our self-published books about building a business as a family. Our experiences in building, selling, supporting, and rebranding our businesses over the years has been impactful in our community. With all of our businesses, we aim to be both affordable and professional.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely nowhere near smooth! As entrepreneurs you have to be prepared for any situation. From power outages and theft to hiring and firing! The worst, hacked social media pages, rebuilding from 1 followers after losing 20K. Even hacked websites and cyber attacks. We have experiences it all. Covid was great for some of our businesses while destroying others at the same time. We also had our first child together during the pandemic so our photography studio/business was closed for 2 years and then another business moved into our booth inside the Southside Discount Mall.
We are true believers in what’s for us will always be for us. Even after starting our photography business again 2 years after Covid, we started with outdoor sessions, which did well. Then, we decided to convert our commercial office space into a studio, since we still had all the equipment, After a few months, we were back in the photography business. Then, one day Jared said stop by the discount mall and see if that same business is still there. The booth was empty and they didn’t change anything we built.
I eventually found the new manager and she said we could rent it. That day we signed the lease, I still had the keys to the doors on my keyring. I went to unlock the door, the keys actually worked! So, we got to work! September 2022 we reopened The Photo Shop Atlanta in exact same space 7 years later. At the end of the day, we always remain positive and productive.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about James & James, LLC?
We started writing books years ago about marriage, business, and physical healing. With all our brand and businesses, we want to put positive vibrations in the world. Since we had a large following on IG, we starting give relationship advice to our followers and released a book entitled “Young, Black & Married: How to Snuggle through the Struggle”. We’ve been married since 2012 and in business together since 2014.
We then started to explore other areas of business from real estate to vending. Our goal is to always provide affordable, trusted products and services for our community/people.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Honestly, our family, who has been supportive and helped along the way. We always tried to hire family to keep the resources, money, and jobs in the family. Jared’s father is our account. His daughter, at 16, works The Photo Shop Atlanta on the weekends. My mother, aunt, and cousin shipped our products, My cousins worked our store locations and social media. However, Jared deserves the most credit for his dedication to focus on our financial freedom, independence, and stability as a family. His business ventures, ideas, and vision as his partner and wife is the foundation of this family business. As the Founder of our company, he is the leader but also knows how to plays his role as a team member as well.
Pricing:
- $20 in studio photo shoots
- $35 in studio photo shoots
- $125 outdoor sessions
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ThePhotoShop.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thephotoshopatlanta_2/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePhotoShopAtlanta/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePhotoShopAtlanta
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thephotoshopatlanta
