Life and Work with Sara Avans

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Avans.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sara. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a young girl, I was doubtful about many things, but I had two big certainties: I wanted to move abroad and live across different countries; I would have never been an entrepreneur. I was only 50% right. Here’s what happened.

During my studies, in Italy, I had the chance to make my first experience in a foreign country, I moved to Germany for my last year of college. Mind-blowing. Being completely immersed in a new culture, speaking a different language, discovering new flavors (and that “Italian food is the best” is only a commonplace). Basically learning new things and meeting new people every day, so positively challenging. I knew it had to be my life.

So after graduation, I decided it was time to achieve my teen’s dream, and I finally moved to London, to start my career in marketing and fashion. Kinda… not easy as I thought. The city was crazy competitive and expensive, (that I could hardly manage to make a living), though it was the most vibrant and creative place on Earth, and I had an amazing time and great experiences.

In 2012, I got a proposal to move to Dubai. Pushed by my adventurous spirit I easily accepted, and even though initially it was pretty hard (again), I eventually found my happy place.

I found love and after a couple of years I took a leap: I quit my job in corporate and, scared as hell, I started my career as a freelancer.

Then, one day, I had an interesting business idea. I pushed it back for a while, until I moved again, this time the destination was US – Atlanta. I found myself on the other side of the globe and I had to start over, finding new clients, catching new gigs, in a brand new market I had zero experience with. So, what a better time to pull out of the that “Uber of photography” idea? I had nothing to lose after all. The rest is history, a couple of years later Pelooc.com exists and it’s about to become mobile. I still can’t believe my idea is actually coming to life.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s been hard, and let me be honest, it doesn’t get any easier. Because the more you achieve, the bigger the challenges are. But it is worth, and the joy and the satisfaction you get compensate all the struggle.

Please tell us about Pelooc.
My background is in Branding and Corporate Communications. As a freelancer, I used to consult businesses to build their brand foundation, develop marketing strategies, effective visual identity, and websites.

Today all my skills and competencies are exclusively at Pelooc service, the first peer2peer photography platform, where “photolovers” (those who need pictures) can hire “phototakers” (photography hobbyists, wannabe photographers, beginners and sometimes even pro) to create visual content. Think about Uber, but with photo takers instead of drivers!

Pelooc strives to support individuals in achieving their goals and cultivating their passions. Not only helping them to increase their income, but also by facilitating the connection with a vibrant community of creatives, and the engagement in fulfilling activities. Pelooc aims to make photography more accessible in order to empower people through self-expression and pave the way to a dream career for everyone. As the Founder, this is what makes me particularly proud.

Pelooc’s main differentiation point against its competitors is that the service mostly addresses amateurs, beginners, photography students, and those who simply enjoy taking pictures, rather than photography professionals only. For this reason, we never refer to Pelooc’s people as “photographers”, but always as “phototakers” – which we believe is pretty self-explicative: people who take pictures (either with a camera or a smartphone).

When I started Pelooc, I created a phototaker profile myself, and I discovered how much I love taking pictures and creating my own signature editing style. So many people now follow me on Instagram and ask me about it all the times. Pelooc really helped me experiment, push the boundaries, connect with new people and being open to possibilities.

In addition, Pelooc is the only photography-on-demand-app allowing instant booking: a map will show the phototakers immediately available near you to takes pictures on spot.

What advice would you give to someone at the start of her career?
I remember when I started as a freelancer, I used to meet clients hoping they wouldn’t hire me, as I thought I wasn’t good enough. So my advice here would be: never say to yourself you are not good enough. You are allowed to do mistakes and to be imperfect, but that doesn’t mean you are not good enough. As long as you learn something, mistakes are a good thing. At the end of the day, everything can be fixed.

Pricing:

• Mobile photography (no editing): from $1 to $20
• Mobile photography + editing: from $1 to $30
• Camera photography (no editing): from $1 to $50
• Camera photography + editing: from $1 to $100

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pelooc.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/pelooccrew/
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/pelooccrew/
• Other: http://instagram.com/saraavans/

Image Credit:
pelooc.com | @pelooccrew

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