Business Profile: Natasha Lee

Natasha Lee
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  • What is the name of your business and what is your role? Na-nu-ja is a Korean word meaning “Let’s share”. I am a photo book expert and professional photo organizer and I love helping people share memories with their photos.
  • How long have you been in business? I have designing photo books for over 17 years! I added photo organization and digitization of old photos, negatives and slides to my skill set around 3 years ago.
  • How did you get into this business? I was born for it! I love photos and am a teacher by profession, so helping people tame their photo mess and ensure they have their photo collection safeguarded is very important to me.
  • What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced, and how did you overcome it? Na-nu-ja’s shop and workshop was burnt to the ground during the hectic KZN looting spree in July 2021 – waking up the next morning having lost everything was devastating. Overnight I needed to pivot my business model to survive. Today I embrace remote working and enjoy making sure that my clients don’t lose their precious family memories, if faced by disasters like floods, fires, theft, computer failure etc.
  • What single trait/skill could you not have succeeded without? The ability to learn – I love getting to grips with new software, keeping up with design trends and always making sure that I treat each job like it was my own project.
  • What is the best business advice you’ve received? Every customer buys more than your time — they’re buying your years of experience, the investment you’ve made in developing your skills and talents, and your resulting expertise.
  • Your secret to business success is? Being passionate, doing something you have a natural talent for.
  • What is your business goal for 2022? To grow the number of remote clients I have, so that I can work from any location in the world.
  • Tell us one thing that not many people know about you? I have loved tracing my Dutch heritage on genealogy sites, finding out how my maternal grandparents arrived in this country – photos of passenger lists, boats, calligraphic birth and marriage certificates – so my next project is a family history photo book.