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

Alright, Vanessa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, folks often look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight – but that often obscures all the nitty, gritty details of everything that went into the growth phase of your business. We’d love to hear about your scaling story and how you scaled up?

I started my photography business six years ago, specializing in newborns and maternity photography. For the first five years, my business struggled to make a profit. In the fifth year, I only made $11,000, most of which went toward expenses. I almost gave up on photography, mainly because I was also juggling a corporate job. When my youngest child couldn’t get into daycare, I realized working from home with two young kids was too tricky. So, I quit my corporate job and focused solely on photography. I had previously taken a personal branding course, which I completed. I discovered that working with businesses was my true passion. So, I shifted my focus to social media management and virtual assistance, and my income quickly grew. Within six months, my business was making six figures, and I was able to put my kids in daycare.

As my business grew, I started coaching to help other entrepreneurs, but I burned out. I had to step back and focus on creating a more sustainable business. This eventually led to creating a course for faith-filled female entrepreneurs and a podcast for those looking to integrate faith into their businesses. Now, I lead a community of almost 6,000 women and serve on the board of three organizations.

The journey of entrepreneurship has been challenging, especially because I tend to be a people-pleaser, which is difficult when working with a community of women. My current focus is on growing my business in a way that prioritizes my mental well-being from the very beginning.

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.

I was first introduced to online sales through Network Marketing. In the five years I was involved, I scaled my business to high ranks within the organization and helped coach hundreds of men and women on selling and building a personal brand while also studying social media and photography. However, throughout the process, I felt as though I wasn’t authentically creating genuine connections with individuals. I knew the business model wasn’t sustainable, so I left network marketing completely to pursue photography.

While pursuing photography, I initially began in motherhood photography, photographing newborns, maternity, and babies. During this time, I began servicing the affluent market; however, I decided to pivot back to my love of working with businesses and step into personal branding photography.

I now guide faith-driven female entrepreneurs looking to elevate their brands and create a lasting legacy through personal branding photography, online courses, and 1:1 coaching.

What sets me apart is my knowledge of working with the luxury market, my branding expertise, and my strong social media knowledge and content creation background.
Not just being able to strategize on marketing and branding but also being able to help my clientele execute their vision.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Building genuine connections. While I’m no extrovert and tend to keep to myself, I know the importance of building relationships with people. I also love helping people, so getting involved in helping businesses and organizations helped play a big role, even if it was unpaid initially.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media and algorithms don’t change as often as people think. Focus on getting to know what your audience loves and building a connection with them. Figuring out what your audience loves requires research and a clear understanding of their struggles. Sometimes, that even means asking them directly. Create more content around how you can help them solve whatever they’re struggling with. Building a brand that creates content they like allows them to get to know you and establishes trust. That type of content will outlive any trend.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://miterabranding.com
• Instagram: Miterabranding

Image Credits

Mitera Branding