Epic Entrepreneurs

Capturing Stories and Crafting Success with Carol Spagnuola

• Bill Gilliland

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Professional photographer Carol from Asheville joins us for a conversation filled with resilience and creativity. She opens up about the daunting challenge of rebuilding her business after Hurricane Helene, turning adversity into an opportunity for rebranding in 2025. Carol’s journey from her high school photography days to a successful career in concert photography is inspiring, and her current focus on bringing out the unique personality of businesses through comprehensive branding packages is a testament to her visionary approach. Whether capturing a massage therapist’s tranquil setting or a real estate agent’s friendly aura, Carol’s work goes beyond mere headshots to tell compelling stories.

Entrepreneur's Bio:


The best compliment Carol could receive is someone saying, ‘I usually hate having my picture taken but instead, I enjoyed every minute of it!” She is a  true people-person who loves pumping others full of confidence, and was drawn to her art form for that very challenge: to help more people enjoy it. By supporting clients and bringing positive energy, she gives them a natural high that comes from taking and seeing a beautiful image of themselves. In the studio or workout class, she is always rooting for others so they can achieve their goals. It’s hard to be our own biggest cheerleader, which is why she uses optimism to uplift and support others.

Looking for someone to change your headshot experience into a positive one? Carol not only takes headshots but specialize in creating them. Being an expression coach, she'll guide you through the whole process to get the look you want while keeping your genuine personality in mind. From guiding you on what to wear to giving detailed instructions in front of the camera, you not only walk away with a headshot you can be proud of but an experience you will want to tell your colleagues and friends about.

Thanks for Listening. You may contact me at https://billgilliland.actioncoach.com/

All the best!
Bill

Thanks for listening. Please hit the subscribe button and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com.

All the best!

Bill

Bill Gilliland:

Hey there and welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I've got my friend Carol here with us today. Carol, how's it going?

Carol Spagnuola:

Excellent. It is feeling much better these days and it actually feels good to be able to say I'm doing good, as I know many of us have probably been feeling, but thank you for having me on the show, bill.

Bill Gilliland:

You're welcome and for those of you that may be listening to this from somewhere other than Asheville, you know we got hit by a hurricane and certainly Carol's studio was affected and a lot of things, a lot of all of us were affected. But anyway, so thanks that you're doing. I'm glad that you're doing better and good. So tell us a little bit about your business.

Carol Spagnuola:

Yeah, I'm a local professional photographer here in Asheville, been in business for 11 years now. I do have a studio in the River Arts District and I actually moved from one of the buildings that was did not make it through the storm the Riverview Station to Film Mechanics. So we are one of the buildings that are still standing. But I do primarily headshot and portrait work and I love what I do. I'm very passionate about working with people and building their businesses and kind of like what you do. And, yeah, I'm really thankful that I get to choose my career for what I love to do.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, and, by the way, she did our headshots, has done an amazing job. They're incredible and yeah, and it was a good experience. It was fun, like I was like, oh, I got to go get my pictures done, but I got up there and it was fun, so thanks for that. You also do a lot of other things. What tell us a little bit about what else you do?

Carol Spagnuola:

Well, for 2025, I'm rebranding my business to create more of a package for businesses. So, yes, you might need a headshot or portrait for your about page that goes on your website or you could use for social media, but also images that speak to your brand, the lifestyle of your brand, your business, the personality of your business, and also, if you sell certain things, you'll have product photography, you'll have restaurant photography, food photography all within this branding bubble, if you will, of imagery that you can use across the board for marketing, for your websites, for your social media, for marketing pamphlets, whatever that you see fit. So it would be essentially packages that we could do once a month, or maybe every few months, or quarterly. You end up with a bunch of images to use, and so maybe we do that as a quarterly thing and we talk all about the details leading up to it, setting up the shoot. I'm really specific and detailed about that because I want these images to be something that you end up loving and happy with that you end up loving and happy with.

Bill Gilliland:

So it's all photography-based. You're just doing more than just the headshots, right?

Carol Spagnuola:

Exactly which I've always done. I just have not. I guess not.

Bill Gilliland:

I want to talk to you. You said about show the personality. Tell me how you do that, because that's a I don't know, I don't know how to do it. You know, I'm not a I'm not a photographer, so tell me how you do that.

Carol Spagnuola:

Absolutely so. Let's say you're a massage therapist and we would start with some headshots, portraits of you and the personality of your business. For that is a lot of times we think of a massage, we think of soothing, we think of nurture and care. So you would have imagery that somebody is showing just that, maybe during the massage, maybe somebody wrapping like a warm towel around their head, something that shows that personality that wants to draw somebody in to their business. If you own let's say you're a real estate company, right, and you of course need headshots for real estate, but you also want to show that you're approachable and friendly and that you know you could show the personality of you inside certain homes, walking around and just having a good time, so that people can feel and connect to you. So there's just different ways that you can show personality and imagery.

Bill Gilliland:

Right, and so it could be individual too. I mean you could take, I mean you could take something that was maybe not, maybe maybe think about you know a soothing for massage therapy, but maybe there's like a you know, really pumped up massage therapist or something. That would be a different experience. I don't know. That'd be interesting yeah.

Carol Spagnuola:

Yeah For you. You boost businesses. You could do lots of pictures of you with your clients, you reading books and educating yourself to show that you're constantly evolving with what you do, so you can bring that to the table of your clients. It's all different kinds of ways to get creative.

Bill Gilliland:

Got it. I got it. Yeah, no, that's cool. That is cool. So how'd you get into this business in the first place? I mean, have you always been a camera bug, or what's the deal?

Carol Spagnuola:

Yeah, I've done it since high school. I had a dark room at my parents' house inside the basement and I did go to college for photography and video, but I didn't do anything with it in my 20s and then, about when I was 35 and I owned another business, I was like, why am I not picking up a camera? And so I had a 35 millimeter film camera at the time and I bought a digital camera and started taking pictures at concerts, which I completely love seeing live music. So the two went really well together and it evolved really quickly and people started to connect with my photography and then I said this is something I want to pursue. So I started to do some research on what type of photography, because there's so many different niches out there and I don't want to be a Walmart photographer. I don't do weddings, you know.

Carol Spagnuola:

I mean because there's people that do like everything and I feel, you know, it's better to specialize in one specific genre, if you will. So it just evolved that way, and five years later I sold my other business, went full time in this, and here I am, six and a half years later, and so happy that I haven't looked back. Don't do the math on my age.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, okay, all right, I'm trying to. Yeah, okay, all right, I'm trying to yeah. So you know it's a, it's a. I want to talk a little bit about specializing, because I think that's useful for some people. I mean, that is a, that is a marketing concept and that seems to have worked really well for you. I mean, what? What I'm hearing is that you, you chose, you sort of realized, all right, I didn't want to be a Walmart, I didn't want to do weddings, I don't like doing. You know, I wanted some flexibility as well, so I want to make my own hours. But the headshots seem to be good because and you came out of business, so the business seemed like because, I mean, headshots are for business people, right, in general, it's for a website or for something along those lines Vaccine, yeah, yeah.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, there's a lot of ways to use them, but you know so they need to be done. And it's cool because they need to be done every year or two anyway. So, because you know, people change, right, Absolutely.

Carol Spagnuola:

We grow up.

Bill Gilliland:

We grow up, but now you're looking at adding some stuff, which I think is appropriate. You've established a beach hold and now you approach it, so what was your thinking on, like how to specialize and what to, and how has that worked out for you?

Carol Spagnuola:

Well, for the headshots, I know when I was doing a lot of research at the time and started studying and realized that it wasn't just about taking a picture.

Carol Spagnuola:

It was about connecting with humans and creating an experience for them, because at the end of the day, when you look at your headshot, I want you to remember how you felt and that not walked away, not liking the experience because I hear that a lot.

Carol Spagnuola:

So that started to connect with me because I feel like my purpose in life is I'm more of a positive person and I love to uplift myself and others, and that just was part of being a headshot photographer portrait photographers you know you got to uplift that person in that moment. You got to get them to be confident and comfortable and have a good time and trust you, and so that kind of became pretty easy once I knew that. But I always love to dabble in, like I've done some food photography for some restaurants and product photography or more like if it's a restaurant, having people sitting and enjoying the place or whatever it is that you have there, and so I started to really enjoy that as well, and so combining the two only makes sense because it's an all around package that you need for your business.

Bill Gilliland:

Did it just show up? Did somebody say hey, can you do this, can you take some pictures of some food for us, and maybe can you make us look better? How did it show up?

Carol Spagnuola:

Well, a couple years ago a business the National Sports Club opened up and they were good friends of mine. So I did their marketing and social media and pictures for the year and I had done it before, but that was like a more of a um addition to my photography business and I loved it. And I don't necessarily love posting for someone else's social media, but doing the, the, the pictures for it, I absolutely loved. So this past year it's been on my list to start creating and then we all know this fall we all kind of had stuff pushed to the side and we're busy, you know, helping our community out. So this is the year that I'm going to really market this and rebrand it and I'm in the process of redoing my website for it.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, I mean you can always hire somebody to post the things once the creative stuff is done. I mean that's an assistant or a virtual assistant job. So I mean that's leaning into the stuff you love to do and letting somebody else do all the stuff you don't love to do, right? So you've been in a couple of businesses. I'm sure you've had some lessons in there. Give us a couple of lessons. Give us a couple of lessons.

Carol Spagnuola:

Yes, there's always a lot of them. One of the biggest lessons I think that most businesses learn a lot from, especially myself, is if it takes you double or triple the amount of time to do something, then you should probably find the professional to do it. I used to do my own accounting. I've messed things up. I have to pay sales tax. I was always late and I'll just be very transparent. I always paid it, but I had fees to pay and finally I was like why am I doing that? Just pay the professional to take care of that and take that one thing off of your plate so that you can focus more on the things that you specialize in. And that was one of the biggest lessons I'll still recommend to people, no matter what it is. If it's taking you a long time to do it, your time is valuable. So remove that, give it to a professional, put it in with the budget and move on.

Bill Gilliland:

Well, I mean, and the truth said, in most professions and most business owners can make more money doing the thing that they're good at, that they're actually a genius Doing the thing that they're good at that they're actually a genius rather than doing data entry or bookkeeping or something that now a bookkeeper can make more money doing that because that's what they do. Yeah, so, because they can do it, yeah, it's crazy. I remember I hired, I had this, I made this long list one time of and I needed, as a whole bunch of admin stuff I needed done and I was like this is going to take three, four or five weeks to do it. And I hired a um, actually a college intern, to do it and she did it in, uh, two days, like everything the whole. Four or five weeks it would have taken me and she did it in two days. So it's, yeah, it's, that's a good, that's, that's a good lesson.

Bill Gilliland:

Let's do a quick round. Epic is an acronym and so let's, let's do a quick round. Let me get your thoughts on the acronym. So, um, the B part, it's B EPIC. So the B part of it's bring the energy. What, what, what's your, your energetic, what's the? What's your thoughts about energy and bringing energy to the work.

Carol Spagnuola:

That's mindset.

Carol Spagnuola:

So, we could sit here and be like, oh, I'm so tired. Or we could sit here and say, no, I'm good, I've got this, and you know. Side note on this metaphor part is I run a lot and I heard recently when you feel pain and like maybe your calf is tight, and you say I love my body, I love my calf, I love my calf, then it kind of goes away. And so I've started to do that and literally for the next couple of minutes I forget that my calf hurts. And so point is, if you want to bring the energy, just believe in yourself, have confidence in yourself and tell yourself that you can do it. No negativity. Negativity will not bring energy.

Bill Gilliland:

We're going to call you the energetic photographer or the positive photographer or something like that. I don't know. It's awesome, I love it. No, look, I'm a hundred percent. I'm with you, mindset. It's all about deciding Make a decision and go with it. All right, the E stands for education. So what important? What do you think the importance of education is in business?

Carol Spagnuola:

the importance of education is in business. Well, for my field of photography, it's ever-changing and there's a lot of new programs out there, a lot of different ways to do things, and studying is only going to elevate your business. Getting to know, like what's current, what's trending, and also something like, for instance, if I'm doing product photography, doing a course on that, learning about that, find a mentor that can educate you and improve your skills.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, I think you learn whatever the best way it is for you to learn. I like audio, I like podcasts and Audible and books on tape and all that stuff. So it's all good you got to find what works for you. I love that. Okay next. So the E in EPIC is education, the P in EPIC is planning. What's your thoughts about planning?

Carol Spagnuola:

I think planning creates a successful day.

Bill Gilliland:

Oh, I love that.

Carol Spagnuola:

I am still working on that. I even bought these daily plans. That has time. So I wake up and I write in each time spot what I'm supposed to be doing. And it really helps, especially us multitaskers, that sometimes you feel overwhelmed with the large list. So if you really compartmentalize it to a specific time, it has really helped me plan the day and be more successful, especially that two o'clock mark when you need to give yourself 30 minutes.

Bill Gilliland:

Tough time of the day, I'm telling you. It is it just so? Is the? Yeah, I agree, the most important plan you can make is the plan for the tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, I like it. The I stands for inspiration.

Carol Spagnuola:

I've also learned that Say that Start backwards, like when you have something, a, something plan, just kind of go backwards towards it, which I'm really trying to master. I really like that idea.

Carol Spagnuola:

So, that's the idea there is to chunk it down in smaller steps. Is that the yes Like? Let's say we have, I have a meeting at 10. So I start backwards. I know I have a meeting at 10 o'clock with Bill, and then how long is it going to take me to set up? I know it might take me 10 minutes to get all of my computer, blah, blah, blah, and then how long will it take me to get ready? So I know, at 9.50, I have to start getting my computer ready. At nine o'clock I have to shower and get all that.

Bill Gilliland:

So it's kind of like yeah, yeah, yeah, chunk it down. Little things make it manageable. I mean on big stuff you can do that.

Carol Spagnuola:

Sometimes multiple day projects that stuff the eye is inspiration. What are your thoughts about inspiration? Well, the inspiration first starts within you and then also find, follow people, locals, your friends, anybody that inspires and uplifts you. That's somebody that is an inspiration. It doesn't have to be this large, famous person. It could just be somebody that you know, that you know is out there kicking some serious butt in this world and in life and they can inspire you. That's a beautiful thing. We don't have to recreate the wheel in some ways of just knowing what feels good and that can uplift you and inspire you.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, and I love it, and the C is commitment. So what's your thought about commitment?

Carol Spagnuola:

When the tough gets hard, don't bail. That's your commitment. Because there are many times where you're like man, I'm struggling, I don't feel inspired, I don't feel motivated. I don't know if I I don't feel motivated, I don't know if I want to continue this business. It's been really hard. Those are the moments you go no, I am going to push through this, I'm going to commit to what I'm doing and get through it. And that is I love that, because when you actually get to the other side and the ball gets rolling again and you're so glad that you commit it to yourself and to what you're, about.

Bill Gilliland:

I love that. I love that. So I want to talk about running a minute. You said you run a lot. I've had a few pretty serious track athletes that also own businesses and I've always gotten their thoughts. How do you think running or even physical activity, whatever, however you want to take it has helped you in business?

Carol Spagnuola:

Well, I believe working out and running is a metaphor in life. Like I love to run up a hill, because to me, running up that hill it's really tough and you're running and you're going to get to the top. And once you get to the top, you feel so amazing when, if you set yourself to run I'm going to run five miles and you push to get to that five miles. However, you get there. Remember, the journey is definitely a major part of it, but getting there and how you got there is just the most amazing thing. And also that you're able to tell yourself that you can do the things that you've told yourself that were impossible, but they are completely possible.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, I think running is a great metaphor because there's always another gear, there's always another distance, there's always another challenge. I do love that.

Carol Spagnuola:

Yes.

Bill Gilliland:

Let me wrap this up with one question that I almost always ask everybody, and that is what do you wish that somebody had told you years ago? What do you wish that you'd known then, that you know now?

Carol Spagnuola:

Oh goodness, Do we have time? No, I'm just joking.

Bill Gilliland:

You can have multiple. Yeah, we have some time. Yeah, go ahead.

Carol Spagnuola:

Yeah, this might crack you up, but I never drank coffee for my whole entire life. This is so simple, but this is what came to my mind and I'm going to be organic about it. I drank a latte a few years ago and I came home and did like that 2 pm. I will drink a little caffeine and I like totally focused. So as silly as that might sound and someone might have thought I was going to come up with this beautiful metaphoric response, there's my organic response, right there.

Bill Gilliland:

No, I like it, that's real and, like you say, two o'clock in the afternoon, sometimes I'm headed for some caffeine, for a tea or something, right?

Carol Spagnuola:

Yeah.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm with you.

Carol Spagnuola:

I'll add. This is just to remind yourself of even the bad days are great days and to give yourself grace. So I have been. You know, I've always been really hard on myself and push myself, and push myself and I wish I had told me myself the 15 years ago to just take each moment for each moment, slow it down and know that you can push yourself. But you can also learn when the calm needs to happen.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah yeah, give yourself a little grace. I love it. I love it. Well, this has been awesome. This has been a lot of fun. So thanks, thanks, thanks for hanging out and having a conversation with us today, and you're an inspiration to all of us. So keep up the great work and keep being an inspiration.

Carol Spagnuola:

Oh, thank you, Bill. I'm so grateful that you asked me to be on this. You're an inspiration to many as well, and so we appreciate you in Western North Carolina for all that you do. It's awesome, and there's a lot of businesses that have been doing amazing because of the guidance and your coaching of you. So thank you.

Bill Gilliland:

Well, thanks, and we're having fun. We get to help people and it's fun, so it's a good thing. Yep, hey, until next week, all the best.

Carol Spagnuola:

Yes, Thank you everybody. Have a great 2025.