We recently connected with Nicole Manosky and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole , appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I think being successful is a fairly subjective term and can mean different things depending on the person. To me, being successful ultimately is loving and enjoying what I do. That is the most important aspect of success. Secondly, I want to be profitable in a way that supports my family and allows me to be available and present in my children’s lives daily. While I love what I do, I want to also make a living doing what I love. Being a small business owner, you need incredible work ethic, resilience when you experience setbacks, and consistency because no one is holding you accountable besides yourself. Going on 12 years into my photography business, I have found having a consistent editing schedule and shooting only Mondays through Thursdays has helped me be successful, while still maintaining a good work/family life balance. Having a good social media presence and posting regularly has helped immensely as well. Being able to provide quality beautiful memories for my clients is extremely rewarding. It is a success when you capture fleeting precious images for your clients, and have them appreciate you as an artist!

Nicole , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a self taught photographer that’s been professionally photographing for over 12 years. I always was more on the creative side growing up. I enjoyed art, creating, music, and have always loved capturing images. I started in my teens taking senior photos for my friends with my point and shoot camera. Anyone that was willing to be my guinea pigs, I would shoot. From there, I went on to study business management in college, not entirely sure that I could make it in the photography world. My college teacher encouraged me to pursue it and saw a talent. I ended up giving it my all and never looking back. Within 6 months I was fully booked and quit my part time jobs as an autism behavioral therapist/dental assistant. Through trial and error, I learned my craft. I read lots of books, did many shoots to learn, watched a ton of Youtube and creative live, and dove into every photography related workshop I could get my hands on.

If I knew what I know now, I would have not listened to the naysayers that said I would never make it in the photography industry and that it was too competitive. That I would burn out within a few years and would never become profitable. I also would seek out more community over competition type photographer friends. I have a great circle of fellow photography friends now and it has been an incredible sounding board to bounce ideas off of, refer clients to when I am booked up, and to just vent or talk to someone who understands!

I am now a mom of two wonderful kiddos, a little boy who just turned 6 and a little girl who just turned 3. I am also a wife of 10 years to my husband, John. He has always been so supportive and my biggest fan. He bought me my first “big girl” camera when I was just a broke college student. Becoming a mom has made photography even more passionate in my heart. I want to remember it all. All the details, the hair curls, the giggles, the knee scrapes, missing teeth, tantrums, all of the good stuff of childhood. And I want to provide that to my clients. I learned that I was most passionate about shooting childhood and families in a candid lifestyle way. My heart and interest always gravitated towards the real and genuine images versus the very stiff, everyone look at the camera style. Recognizing this, I decided to stop doing wedding/posed photography and brought my focus more on the family aspect of photography. I specialize in families and newborn photography now and it is where my heart lies.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I took some marketing classes in college and a reoccurring tip we were taught was to target your ideal audience. For me, that is people with kids, families, and expecting mothers. Being consistent and present daily on social media is key. I post daily sneak peeks from sessions, post little snippets into my life as a mom and wife on my storied, and make reels when I have extra time. Interacting with your followers on your page and creating a community will help your social media presence as well.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

That I get to be fully myself and share my passion with others. I love being a business owner and the freedom it gives me and my family. I love building relationships with my clients and meeting new families. I have made many friends over the years with the business and there is a lot of variety in a photography business. Each session is unique in it’s own way and being in the presence of children every day makes me happy. I get to exercise my creativity every day and am excited about each shoot. There is a deep sense of contentment when you know you’r edoing what you were made to do.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/septemberbellephotography/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeptemberBellePhotography/