We recently connected with L.E. Zotti and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, L.E. thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I think about this a lot more than I feel like I should, if I’m being completely honest. Am I happier? Sometimes, I don’t really know. I think the line lies somewhere between happiness and fulfillment – and I’ll always choose fulfillment. I know when my business is in a flow state, I feel really good. Like, really good. I feel proud of myself, empowered, inspired, grateful….but when business inevitably fluctuates, I have a hard time not taking that personally. Every failure and rejection feels really personal and sometimes it feels hard to sort through that and find my stride again. Sometimes I find myself fantasizing about what it would be like to be done with something at the end of the day. To feel a sense of accomplishment and completion – but luxury is foreign to me. After every major project, another one is looming. But when I really stop and consider the options, I wouldn’t trade this for a “regular job”. At least when I work for myself, I know that the efforts I’m putting in are going towards me and my goals, even if I don’t always know exactly what those are. I’ve learned so much working for myself in regards to resilience, self love, time management, and so much more. It’s given me the time to critically analyze my own thoughts, movements, and behavioral patterns. It’s forced me to see how far I can push myself, and it’s forced me to be alone a lot – to get to know who I am when no one is looking. I’ve missed out on a lot of life events, some major, some not, in order to pursue this dream. And to what end? I don’t know that answer either. But I do know, that when I’ve really thought about it, working for someone else just wouldn’t be as fulfilling. I don’t want to give anyone else that much control over my life – regardless of what the trade offs might be. I enjoy working towards something – building a legacy, challenging myself, and surprising myself.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

So basically, as a kid I discovered that I mostly think and process information in pictures. Growing up, that realization opened up exciting opportunities for me to develop and refine that into a skill. And now, in my work as a photographer, I get to share it with people like you – and I consider myself pretty freakin’ lucky for it.

**confirmed: 8 year old me is super proud**

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

This started as a side hustle for me. It sounds crazy, but I just decided that this was going to be it for me. That I was going to be a full time photographer no matter what – that I was okay with failing as many times as it took – and it took a lot of times. I think my first big milestone was when I realized that I didn’t need to do it all alone – that investing in my education was a fast track and absolutely necessary. When I decided to bet on myself, I noticed a shift in my business.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

So many…but books specifically about habit building and mindset have really shaped me and given me the resilience needed to carry me through. Atomic Habist, The Power of Habit, Four Thousand Weeks, The Power of NOW, You Are a Badass at Making Money, The Art of Thinking Clearly…I could go on.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://heyitszotti.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/heyitszotti

Image Credits
Zotti