Meet Zachary Whipple | CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Zachary Whipple and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Zachary, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur and I always had a love for music. I started a mobile djing service in 2008. This was way before the digital music streaming boom took over and mixtapes was the hottest thing on the market. The one thing about mixtapes was the cd cover artwork that they displayed. I wanted to know how they were making these covers but at that time it wasn’t a lot photoshop tutorials out on youtube at that time so I had to learn the adobe system strictly by trial and error. Fast forward about 4 years later I had become pretty decent with the photoshop software and my girlfriend at that time (who is now my wife) bought me a mirrorless camera for my birthday. I never knew that this one camera would change my life forever. I was out one afternoon just casually taking pictures at our local hospital. I took a few landscape pictures of the hospital and posted it to my facebook page. A few days later I was contacted by the marketing director of the hospital inquiring about the photo. She said that the CEO of the hospital wanted to buy the rights to the photo for marketing and advertisement and how much would I sell it for. I had no clue about the photography business at this time. I casually said… “I’ll take a $100 for it”. There was a silence on the phone and she then said, “Are you sure?” At this moment I was thinking that I had priced the photo too high. I said “yes ma’am… I’m sure”. She said ok I’ll have you a check ready when you get here. My first thought was… Wow! I just sold one photo for $100. I started studying photography at this point religiously… It became my new passion, Funny thing is I took a photography class in high school… needless to say I fail that class. 30 years later and I own one of the most successful photography business in the south.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Betta Focus Photography was established in 2012. When I started my business I came into it with a thought process of… I didn’t want anybody to know that I own the business. I just wanted them to know that I worked for the company. I rented a little office space downtown for $600 a month. I kept my full time job working as a waste treatment plant operator for a local city municipality. At that time I didn’t know if I could afford that little office or not but I stepped out on faith anyway. I moved into this office in 2015 and a year later I moved into a bigger office in the same building. This office was approximately 600 sq.ft which is still not huge but it was twice the size of the other office. I was extremely proud cause in my eyes I could see my business growing every year. In 2018 we were extremely blessed to move out of that 600 square foot office and move into a 5000 square foot photography studio. All of this could not have been possible if we didn’t set goals, have faith and a strong determination to succeed and see things through. You gonna have obstacles in your way but stay the course. Never stop learning… always stay up on the newest trends and technology because that is gonna make your job easier and it will keep you in Business. I’ve had the pleasure of working for Betta Focus for the last 11 years and I love the company that i work for.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We have a few locally own restaurants here in Downtown Dublin, The Saltwater Fishery is one of the nicest seafood restaurants in the south. They have inside dining and rooftop dining. The Company Supply is also nice as well as Deano’s Italian restaurant. It’s not a lot to do here in Dublin so most of the natives here would go to surrounding counties for more fun and adventure. Dublin sits directly in Middle Georgia which is 90 minutes from both Atlanta and Savannah.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Gotta give a shoutout to the most High, my Lord and Savior without Him none of this would even be possible. My mom for always being that rock that i could lean on when times got tough… My Wife for being my everything… My daughter for giving me a reason to excel by any means necessary…. and last but not least. I think a lot of times we fail to give ourselves a shoutout for putting in the work, putting in the time and making all the sacrifice to pursue a dream that at most times no one can see but you. Thanks to all the people who didn’t believe, thanks to the naysayers and doubters. If it wasn’t for you guys I wouldn’t even have and opportunity to thank you on this platform.

Website: https://bettafocus.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bettafocus/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettafocusphotography

Image Credits
Betta Focus Photography