We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Erica Mills. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Erica below.

Erica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I believe there are a lot of things that contribute to being successful; to name a few, patience, faith, commitment, and passion. It takes time to create something of value and importance, faith to believe you’ll get there, commitment to see the process through and your passion for it gets you there!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I discovered my love for photography around the time I had my son! I find it hard to believe twelve years later, I’m doing what I love and have finally found my calling; something I had fought so hard to discover, yet it was right under my nose the whole time! My love for it grew deeper as time passed and one day I remember thinking, “Why don’t I do this”?! It was when I finally began to believe in myself, I decided to take the risk of failing and I’ve been flying ever since! I have always loved art. I grew up dancing, singing, drawing, writing poetry, and more! I love photographing families, children, pets, High School seniors, nature and more. Recently I decided to expand my business by offering my nature prints on canvas! Those have been a huge hit thus far and in my book, the sky is the limit! I look forward to seeing where I go with my business as I chase my dreams!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Growing up I wanted to be a counselor! I loved helping people and I knew that’s what I wanted to do in life. I graduated and went to college for a BA in Psychology! My first job was in childcare and I continued working in childcare throughout college. After obtaining my BA, I wasn’t sure if counseling was the route I wanted to pursue any further. I didn’t make time for an internship and it was challenging to find a job without experience or further education. I had decided to continue my education online so I could continue to work! I considered other careers similar to that of counseling, yet none of “my” plans had ever worked out. I remember feeling discouraged so many times for having a great education, but not having the ability to find what I wanted to do or land a job in what I thought could be “the one”. Again, these were all “my” plans! I began my photography hobby around the time of getting married and starting my family! My passion for it grew and eventually, I began to consider really doing this! I started to believe in myself and decided to take the risk of failing! I now see how everything fell into place at the right times to get me to where I am today. My childcare career helped mold my ability to interact with children, connect with families, and capture the candid moments I desire! I am so grateful it all worked out as it did! I needed to experience the things I did BEFORE finding my passion for photography, in order to be the photographer I am today!

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I’ve been doing photography on the side for 6 years! I am at the point where I can almost rely on my photography income, but I still have a PT job for slow seasons! In regards to being successful, it all comes down to really wanting it! If you want it bad enough, you will find a way to make it work! You won’t always have the answers, but you will get from one step to the next by putting the work in! Sometimes you won’t know what that next step is, but you just keep doing what you know to do until you figure it out!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.millsmomentsphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erica_mills.jpeg/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MillsMoments.2Remember
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-mills-6a8848180/

Image Credits
My headshot image was done by Erika Diaz with Wonderland Photography.