Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Albanese.
Joshua, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I began my personal brand 11 years ago, Joshua Albanese Photography when I was needing a headshot for my acting career and I couldn’t find a photographer that did both a great job and provided outstanding service.
I started with the acting community since it was also my career at the time. People responded positively to my work and soon it didn’t make sense to be an actor anymore. With the rise of social media, it became imperative that working professionals also needed headshots I built a reputation for creating relatable and engaging personal branding photography. What has made me successful is not just creating stunning images- but really understanding my client’s needs, and just providing outstanding service.
Each year, my business has grown and as word spread I became Chicago’s Top Rated Headshot photography on both yelp and google. I have another photographer now that works under my brand and we are looking to expand into other markets soon.
My personal brand represents my creative work, and my company JA Headshots is where you go to get the best headshot in Chicago.
Has it been a smooth road?
Not everything works as planned. That is the beauty and frustration of business ownership. What I relish though is the struggle because this is where I tend to grow the most and find deeper and richer areas of where I will succeed. The biggest draw is writing out an SOP that everyone will understand. I am a creative at heart. I learn from failure more than anything else. What I have learned is that writing out amazing standard operating procedures are extremely helpful but they are complex to handle all the failures that could go wrong.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My company specializes in corporate and actor headshots in Chicago and I also will shoot commercial photography based on the businesses needs. Part of our success comes from The Natural Shot Method, a system I created, to ensure every client will take their best image. It’s pretty impressive if I can boast a bit because it produces amazing results.
We are the Top Rated by Yelp and Google and also the best that Chicago has to offer. Anyone who comes through our studio agrees and we find that to be our favorite part of the process. They didn’t know headshots and taking a picture could be fun.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I believe Chicago is one of the best markets to start a business. What makes it great is the people and the number of visitors that come in from smaller neighboring towns that couldn’t support certain businesses like mine.
The rent is lower than most cities still and the public transportation means you don’t have to own a car which can keep your costs down when first starting a business.
The only thing our city needs to do to improve is balancing the budget and keep our sales and property taxes lower. To have one of the highest in the country and still have budget issues means there is a lot of fat to trim.
Contact Info:
- Address: 212 N. Sangamon St. Unit 4B
Chicago, IL 60607 - Website: www.jaheadshots.com
- Phone: 312-690-5652
- Email: hello@jaheadshots.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaheadshots/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaheadshotschicago/jahead
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ja-headshots-chicago-2
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
