Life and Work with Kat Ku

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kat Ku.

Kat, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The short story is I combined two of my biggest passions together — pets + photography.

The long story is a combination of factors but summed up by the following:

1) After having graduated from college, I got a job working as a human factors engineer at a nearby company. I worked with an awesome group of co-workers and was working on interesting projects, but after a couple of years of the same routine, I started having a quarter-life existential crisis wondering if I was going to spend the next forty years of my life sitting in a cubicle doing the same thing for the rest of my life.

Around that same time that I was having my quarter-life crisis, I had recently adopted the two loves of my life, Achilles and Shoko. While taking photos of them and sharing them on social media and getting a lot of positive feedback, I realized that I couldn’t be the only one that was obsessed with my furbabies. After doing a little digging around, I realized that there was an unmet market need for pet photography.

I’ve always been one to push myself outside of my comfort zone, so despite knowing absolutely nothing about business, I decided to follow my curiosity to see what would happen if I decided to start a business photographing pets (insert bad joke here about Kats and curiosity).

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In the beginning, I think the biggest struggle was gaining confidence in believing that what I was doing had value, as well as trying to figure out how to build/run a business. I don’t come from an entrepreneurial background, nor did I know anyone at that time that had a business that I could turn to for advice. (Also, there definitely was not the number of resources for starting a business as there is now!)

At the time, there were maybe two other pet photographers near me, but they also photographed everything else. There wasn’t anyone that specialized in photographing pets, per se. I remember telling my friends that I was going to focus on pets and they told me I was crazy, and that no one would ever hire me. That I should stick to weddings and babies. But I knew deep down that I couldn’t be the only one that felt this insane amount of pure joy and love towards our furkids, and that there had to be other people that would want to document that.

So, on top of starting a business in a non-established market, which made it also challenging was that I grew up a very shy kid with social anxiety. Being in a service-based industry where you’re constantly having to meet and talk to new people, you definitely get forced outside of your comfort zone! I’ve obviously grown a lot as a person since then, but I can still remember one of my very first ordering sessions and sitting there in super timid posture as we picked out images, thinking, “Omg, these people want to buy stuff from me.” They were so nice to me, but I still cringe/laugh at that memory.

About five years in of building my side hustle during the evenings and weekends, my business had grown to the point where I needed to decide to go all in, or not do it at all. Every time I thought about making the leap, I’d be on the verge of a panic attack, but I knew deep down this was something that I needed to do, or I’d spend my life regretting not knowing what I was truly made of. But the transition from full time corporate to full-time business? Wow, that was so hard. In ways, I couldn’t predict.

When I think about that transitional period, it feels like a distant memory. Either probably because I’m in a much more stable spot, or that time was so traumatizing, I simply want to block it out, haha. That first month, I was really depressed. It’s such a huge change to go from an everyday routine where you saw the same people who are your work “family” to going to an open-ended structure where you’re responsible for every facet of your life (if you fail, that’s on you), and you don’t see anybody at all unless you leave your place.  I’m going to be real. I’d wake up, and I’d be like wtf am I doing with my life, and go back to bed. I’d always be on the verge of a panic attack, as I worried about whether I was going to make enough money to cover my bills, and whether I really should be looking for a job, even though I had at least 6 months of savings to get me through.

I didn’t have a good support group at that time. My friends didn’t really understand what I was going through. My parents didn’t know because I knew they would freak out once they found out I left the “safe” path of being an engineer at a 9-5 job. They also immigrated over here, and they worked hard and sacrificed a lot to provide me with a great education. So, I was carrying around this huge feeling of guilt for pursuing this “passion” of mine because I felt like it was kind of a slap in their face.

What got me out of the funk though was fostering a dog. There’s nothing that will get me faster out of bed than the idea of a dog taking a leak/dump in my house, haha. Zelda got me out of bed and out the door; she opened conversations because being such a happy, good looking dog, everyone wanted to pet her. She just got me moving and back into a routine, which was exactly what I needed at that time. And that’s why I’m a strong believer in supporting organizations that bring together animals and humans together–whether it’s for our veterans, at-risk youth, or other people going through difficult times. Animals give us so much while asking for so little, and sometimes they’re the only thing people have going for them.

I got my shit together and put together a list of things I wanted to accomplish that year. Working out became my drug of choice for managing my anxiety and depression, and I experimented a lot with acupuncture and yoga to learn more about myself. In conclusion, things worked out, and I am now in a much more stable place, with other friends that are building/running their own businesses and get it.

Right now, my present challenges are to refine my brand and business practices while continuing to grow in ways that remain true to my values. It’s always been a goal of mine to be a nationally known pet photographer, so I’m working on building a portfolio across the country. I’m also currently in the process of launching a greeting card line called KatCatDog, which was partially inspired by the sheer number of people telling me how seeing my work on their social media feeds makes their day. I believe that there’s still value in taking the time to write out a thoughtfully, handwritten card, and I want to be able to continue to spread the joy to all the pet lovers across the world through my work.

As for advice… know yourself. Ask yourself, how bad do I want this? What am I willing to sacrifice? Am I willing to sacrifice nights out with friends, shopping sprees, vacations, sanity, etc to pursue this? Do I have faith and believe in myself that I can accomplish whatever I set my mind to? Can I ignore the naysayers, or will I let them bring me down? But more importantly, when starting a business, are you providing something of value? Is there a market need? What are your goals? Can you scale? Why do you want to do this?

Some people are content with doing the whole 9-5 thing, so if that’s you, that’s completely cool. But if you want to do your own thing, know that it can potentially be really hard and scary, and there will be many days where you want to quit, but it can also potentially one of the most rewarding experiences that you can ever have. Find people that support you, and take care of yourself on a mental, emotional, and physical level.

Please tell us about Kat Ku Modern Pet Photos.
I’m an on-location, all natural light pet photographer that specializes in capturing the personality of pets, and the indescribable bond that they share with their humans.

I strive to create work that’s beyond a simple portrait of a pet — I want the image to not only tell a story about that pet and their human, but also where someone is able to look at the image and FEEL the essence of the pet.

All of my sessions are custom tailored to each client, as my goal is to create beautiful, timeless images that can be cherished over the many years to come.

In my free time, I give back to the animal community by donating my time and services to various rescues and shelters.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.katkuphotography.com
• Phone: 734-494-0160
• Email: info@katkuphotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/thekatku
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/katkuphotography

Image Credit:
Kat Ku Modern Pet Photos

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix 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.