Introducing S.Laughlin.Co
Hi there! If you follow me on social media, you know that this week I launched a re-brand of sorts for my business, formerly known as The Art Studio Collective.
The Past…
I started my first artistic endeavor in 2013, with a goal of funding my first overseas missions trip to Armenia, South America. My entrepreneurial experience started with created hand-lettered paintings for donation. After the trip, I started considering how I could accomplish my dreams of being a paid artist through my own business. I made a couple attempts at creating blogs focused on my many artistic interests (crafting, painting, photography, etc), but struggled to stick with a name that encompassed everything I was passionate about. Since I had a collection of things that I wanted to do, I branded myself as The Art Studio Collective. This name carried me through 7 years of consecutive business for the remainder of my high school years, two years after, and into my college experience.
Just before the pandemic, I hit the end of my rope with burn out. Though I was proud of creating this business at such a young age, I was not running a sustainable business, and I decided I didn’t want to be a starving artist anymore. I “quit.” I had also gained other life experiences, and interests and started pursing a degree in Kinesiology; something that I loved and could also provide a career safety net. I remember feeling terrified to step away from my art safety net, but also excited to step into something new that excited me.
Art has always run through my veins, but in that moment I fully believed I would be better off stepping away from art as a business and pursing it only as a hobby for the first time in 7 years.
Over the next two years I fell in love, completed my bachelors degree, and started a career. And then I started to miss it… I missed being creative. That part of my soul was hungry and I knew it was time to dust it off the shelf and begin again.
I knew things would be different; I would have different products and services, different aspirations, etc. I did NOT anticipate how much business I would have to learn or relearn. With the explosion of tiktok and the subsequent onslaught of video content, it felt like social media was a new world; one I was familiar with as a consumer, but no longer familiar with as a business woman. I learned, relearned, and put myself back out there. I tried stationery design, graphic design, product design… and after a desperate search for a part time job for grad school, God dropped photography back into my lap.
I have sprinted forward with photography once again, without looking back since July of last year. The Art Studio Collective came to life again, but I couldn’t overlook the voice in my head that kept pointing out that this name no longer fit the business.
The Present…
Like most business owners, I wanted my business to reflect me. I wanted to be recognizable for the work that I am creating. It was time to stop concealing behind a “nom de guerre” and let me and my work become one and the same.
Timing is everything, and while it might have made more sense to make this change at the beginning of a new year, my thoughts and my ambitions needed this change to happen now. That God-given instinct has never lead me wrong.
On Monday, I announced the beginning of a new era. Please say hello to S.Laughlin.Co. A company that is fully me, and all of the things that I am. I will no longer hope to stuff things under an umbrella name that makes sense. I will no longer spread myself between multiple names and endeavors. This company, is everything that I love.
Leaving a name that has been so dear for so long is so hard, but I felt it was necessary for the content I want to create, the business I want to become, and the clients I want serve.
The Future…
So what will this be? Fear not, my beloved photography clients. Me and my camera are here to stay. I am extremely excited to continue specializing in branding and portrait photography. I look forward to every photoshoot, I learn so much from each client, and I love being a part of your stories.
But there will be more than just photography…
Education | I am pursing a second degree in Kinesiology with the hopes of continuing a career in education. I love teaching. I love helping people understand things that do not come naturally to them. I love showing people how to love their bodies better, and helping them understand how they function. The body is cool and more people should no more about it. It is the one thing we have possession of every single day of our entire life, we should know how to care for it and get the most from it. I cannot wait to share physical education content through this brand.
Content Creation | This aspect of the company is two-fold. Life is too fun and exciting to let it go by undocumented. I want to share lifestyle content that is real from my perspective. I want to share adventures that my husband and I take, or recipes that I try, or ways to make the every day activities easier and more fun. Also… I want to create content for others. Photography and content creation go hand in hand. I am looking forward to marketing this business to establish partnerships with other businesses and business owners to help them tell the story of their business, product, or service.
So many people have supported my business through every stage of it’s growth and I am immensely grateful for that. In the last year, 31 clients have trusted me to document the events and seasons of their life. That is the biggest honor. I have lost count of all the clients that have played a small part in allowing me to reach my dreams throughout the 10+ years that this business has existed, but please know that if you were one of them you were a huge blessing at every point in this journey. I would not be here without you, and I would not have the confidence to walk toward the next step on this journey.
I look forward to this next season of business, and I hope that you will stay connected as it grows. Every view, like, share, comment, etc. means the world and helps me grow. I appreciate every one of you.
Thank you for reading!
With love, Sami Laughlin | S.Laughlin.Co Creator and Founder
