We recently connected with Micah Nelson and have shared our conversation below.

Micah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Is there a lesson you learned in school that’s stuck with you and has meaningfully impacted your journey?

My mom taught me from very early on that it’s important to make people feel welcomed, seen, and heard. We should pay attention to the people who aren’t being included and make the effort to include them, not as an act of pity but one of empathy. It’s a value I still hold very dear.

It was 2017 when I walked in to what I thought was a normal day in Business Communication class. To my surprise, someone other than my usual professor was prepping his notes at the lectern. You should note that the class size couldn’t have been any larger than 28, and that regular banter/chit chat with professors isn’t uncommon for many classes at this university.

When I first saw the unfamiliar individual at the lectern my first thought was to greet him, ask him who he is, what he does, and what brings him to class today. But it was college and I was tired, and I though to myself “Can it *not* be my job this time?” Being called a suck-up/teachers pet didn’t stop when I left high school, and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with it that day. Even as I conversed with my peers, I kept thinking I should go and welcome our guest speaker and thank him for giving his time. But I didn’t.

After we took our seats, our guest speaker held up a a $20 bill. “Everywhere I go as a guest speaker, I keep this $20 bill out next to me. If anyone were to come up and talk to me, it would be theirs. I haven’t been able to give this $20 to anyone yet.” I was kicking myself, but not about the money. I knew that it was good to make everyone feel welcome when it’s in my power to do so, but I let the fear of ridicule from my peers keep me from doing so. That $20 bill was a symbol of a failing grade on a test I usually pass with flying colors. He told us to write skills and characteristics of a great employee on the board: Timely, Kind, Microsoft Excel, Regression Modeling, Integrity, etc. With all these on the board under their proper category (Character or Skill), he stated that if he had to choose an employee that only had one category, he would choose character every time. Skills can be taught for a job, character has to be learned.

I could’ve been that person of character that day, and I didn’t. I still think about that $20 bill, not for what it could’ve bought but what it could’ve been like for that speaker to finally felt welcomed and appreciated. From that class on, I refuse to let the opinions of others keep me from hospitality in any area of my life.

Micah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a visual artist, and my medium is photography. I provide wedding, portrait, and commercial photography services. I love working the puzzle of vision and execution. How can I communicate the stories and emotions the client has in mind with limited resources of time, budget, and light. Whether it’s a product/service or personal portraiture, there’s a story to tell and emotion to evoke. One of the most satisfying feelings is when a client sees my work and loves it as much I enjoyed making it.

Clients rarely come to me with a fully fleshed out vision of what they want/need. That’s where hospitality and curiosity comes in to play. I help clients refine their vision by asking questions that experience taught me to ask. If you don’t know what you want, you’ll rarely get it. This process equally uses problem-solving and empathy, and it doesn’t get much better than that for me.

I’m proud of both my professional work and personal projects, especially when it involves collaboration with other creatives.

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

I highly recommend Profits First by Mike Michalowicz. Michalowicz gives tools to help organize business finances in a way that helps you understand where your business is at with a quick glance at your bank statement. It also removes so much stress/anxiety about taxes as a new business owner.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

My story is probably a little unique in that I went from a full time job to a part time photography job/freelance to totally freelance in less than 15 months. My wife’s job allowed me to work on my business full time while it was still in its slow early stages.

However, with a new move and life changes on the horizon, I’m actually picking up a full-time job outside of my business. There’s a but of stigma for entrepreneurs around working for someone else again, but it’s a 100% valid option. Securing benefits, insurance, or even vacation pay is difficult in the earlier years (and even later years) of entrepreneurship. Working for someone else doesn’t mean you have to stop working for yourself, or that you’re a failure. Successful entrepreneurs adapt to maximize their business as well as their personal life. And working for someone else will do just that for me and my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://humble-perspectives.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/humbleperspectivesphotography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HumblePerspectives