Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathy Solka.
Hi Kathy, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
– I have been a photo enthusiast since I got married – used the sticky albums to put all our photos in and wrote the stories on sticky notes
-albums started yellowing and I needed a solution
-found out about and worked for a scrapbooking company, called Creative Memories starting in 1995 – I am still an advisor with them.
-taught scrapbooking, memory keeping classes and had scrapbook events each month in my home.
-moved to Charlotte in 2006 and restarted my business, but encountered the beginnings of the digital photography world and things started to change
-about 2009, I heard about Cathi Nelson who had started the personal photo organizers organization
-I was so excited about the possibility of helping others who were stuck and overwhelmed
-I added this to my existing scrapbooking business and began to do projects for others
-This continued for many years until I rebranded and formed photos2stories LLC in late 2019
-the personal photo organizers is now an international organization called The Photo Managers and I’m heading to our annual conference in San Diego next week!
-Now I get the opportunity to work as a professional photo coach, partner with a company to do all my media transfers (videos, film, photos, slides, etc), do printed photo organizing, some digital photo organizing, create photo books and more.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
no it hasn’t – there have been stops and starts due to health issues, family issues
technology is constantly changing, so there is always more to learn – which is a good challenge
so much of what I do is based on someone else’s timing, so many times there is a lot of waiting and patience involved
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My love of getting to know people and their story would be something that sets me apart.
I love relationship building and have many long term clients.
I’ve taken classes and am certified as a photo manager. I’m working on getting my specialist certification
in printed photo organizing and legacy preservation.
I work with clients one-on-one virtually or in person and for personalized photo coaching.
I’m also certified as a digital privacy advocate – helping people stay safe with all their digital data
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
My favorite book right now is “New Morning Mercies” by Paul David Trip
apps:
Forever
Blue Letter Bible
Every Dollar for my budgeting 🙂
Fit Bod is an amazing work out app!
Daily Delete to help with managing my camera roll
Mile IQ – keep up with business mileage
Artifcts
Alli Worthington Show for business
Phylicia Masonheimer – follow her on IG
Canva
Pricing:
- photo coaching starts at $110/hour
- Digyourphotos! printed photo organizing system $79
- digital and printed organizing based on project
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.photos2stories.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathy_photos2stories/?igsh=ZHVpYXNxNGZrem1i&utm_source=qr
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathysolka
- Other: https://beacons.ai/photos2stories
