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

Mariah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think it takes a huge amount of courage to take that leap to start, and after you take that leap its more about how much grit and determination you have. How far are you willing to go and what are you willing to sacrifice for what you are trying to build. You have to be willing to go all in, to give up so much, but if you love what you do, its 100% worth it.

A lot of people assume that starting a successful business is quick, and that they start making money quickly, but it can take years to build up a business, with loyal clientele and you have to be ready every day to hit the ground running, fall in the mud, pick yourself back up daily and keep going. It will really show you what you are made of and how badly you want it.

I would encourage anyone who really believes in what they wanna do, take that leap, and go all in and bet on yourself. It will be the best decision you ever made.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Well hello there, I’m Mariah Sargeant.
I own Hot Shots Studio, which is a professional photography studio in Lakeside, Arizona.
I am a single mom of 2 little girls, and what I do is help build confidence and self love through the photography experience.
I specialize in Boudoir photography for women, men, and couples. I found Boudoir back in 2019 and I have never looked back, from the moment I experienced my very own session, I knew that boudoir was what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to provide that safe environment for everyone and couples to explore those special moments that they never get to see and show them how freaking amazing they are.
As humans, we often are so hard on ourselves, we really are our own worst critics, and I wanted to create the opportunity and space where there is no judgement, only encouragement and praise for people just being their beautiful selves, individually or together. Being the person who gets to show others the beauty that is inside of them, that they have a hard time seeing, well that is exactly why I do what I do. I want everyone to know how absolutely amazing they are, so I let them be their true authentic selves and am honored to capture those in-between moments that they get to keep forever.
While boudoir will forever have my heart, I do offer a wide range of photography services. For example, I offer the following: Family, Kids, Portraits, Elopements and Engagements, Creative, Personal Branding, Headshots and couples session to name a few. These session can be indoor or in studio. Let’s just create some magic!

Have you ever had to pivot?

So I recently went through a pretty rough divorce of my partner of 14 years, and there was a bit there where it was up in the air if I was gonna keep my studio open or try and get a 9-5 job in order to fully support my 2 young children. I decided that I was gonna keep my studio open and pursue my photography career full time. That was definitely a pivot I had to make. I had a lot of hard decisions to make, but ultimately it came down to who was I gonna bet on in life. I decided to go all in and bet on myself this year and I’m so glad I did, cause everything that I have been building this business into for the last 4 years has just blossomed and the love and support that my community has given me has blown me away.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Word of mouth and client testimonials have and always will, in my opinion, be the biggest asset to any business. You have to go out there and build the authentic relationships with your clients. While the services and products you offer are also important, the experience that you give your clients is what they are going to remember. So creating that unique and memorable special time for your clients should be top notch. That is also what they are going to share with their friends and family members every time they ask for recommendations. That will set you apart, and follow up and continuing to grow and nurture those relationships through out the years. People love to work with people they know, like and are memorable. So be that person for them. The rest will come.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hotshotsboudoir.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boudoir.by.hot.shots.studio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hot.shots.studio.az

Image Credits

Clients/Models:
Sara Cammarota
Keesha Hanna
Christian and Lauren Donahue
Lindsay Westbrook
Jasmin and Oscar Chavarin
Mo Quinteros
Brianna Johnson
Reina and Gabe