We were lucky to catch up with Markie Mica recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Markie, thanks for joining us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

Growing up, I watched my parents run our family-owned Czech restaurant in the suburbs of Chicago. At just 23 & 28 years old, my parents had become business owners. They started a restaurant and showed me what following your dreams looks like. They taught me what a good work ethic looks like, how to be reliable and to always stay humble, all equally important to success. They had the drive, to make it and they put everything they had into their business to make it successful. It was all those years of watching them go into work early, stay late, and run the business, that I saw just how hard they worked. It was because of them that I knew that I wanted to become an entrepreneur someday.

My parents had a major impact on my life and where I am today in my business. If it wasn’t for them showing me how rewarding it is to build something from the ground up, I don’t know if I would be a business owner today! I am so grateful for my mom and dad, for everything they have done for me, and for giving me the privilege to understand that if you want something, you have to go after it to get it.

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 am Markie the owner of Markie Mica Photography and I am a wedding & lifestyle portrait photographer. I like to describe my photography style as bright, airy & true to color. My goal is to tell your story through every one of my photos. By capturing all of those important moments, I hope to create something special that will be passed down to future generations.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My biggest advice to someone who is new to social media or to someone who is on it but wants to grow their audience would be to create a brand identity and post consistently.

When I first started using social media in 2017 for my photography business, Instagram was my entrance into the world as a photographer. I didn’t have a website, a Google profile, or even an email. My business was simply on Instagram and that was how I showcased my work.

In the beginning, I didn’t post that often and I would work so hard at trying to make my posts perfect. It took me such a long time to create a post, and this resulted in me not posting that often. It wasn’t until I started to not worry as much about my posts and captions being absolutely perfect, that I started to post more. Once I took that pressure off myself, I started to notice an increase in social media engagement.

As a photographer, it was important to me to have a consistent editing style for my brand and business. So I created a brand identity that showcased my bright & airy style and made my Instagram look cohesive and consistent. By posting often and by having a clear brand identity, I saw an increase in engagement and followers!

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

A major time I had to pivot in my life and business was when I decided to cut back at my serving job to be able to focus more on my photography business. When I first started my photography business it was more of a side hustle. I was in college, working at a restaurant, and, would do photography when I could. When my photography business started to pick up, I knew that I needed to cut back at my restaurant job in order to better serve my photography clients. This was a big step in my life as I had decided to take a risk on myself. It was up to me to now continue to book weddings and portrait sessions in more of a full-time manner to support myself. I had swapped my side hustle for a career and that was the best decision I have ever made!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://markiemica.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markiemica.photography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markiemicaphotography

Image Credits
Markie Mica Photography