Meet Mike Young of Macon GA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Young.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in a family restaurant business and have worked in kitchens pretty much my whole life. I spent a decade traveling around cooking, most formatively three years in SE Asia and another in New Orleans. I kind of crash-landed into Macon, Georgia, if I’m being honest. Split up with my kids’ mom on arrival and found myself battling for split custody in a new city without much of a safety net.
I fell in love with the community here right off the bat, though. This is the place I learned how to be an entrepreneur and an artist, and where I met my wife. Right now I run a private chef company and a headshot photography business—you could call it being a private photographer. On the surface they seem unrelated, but they’re both about following technical steps and creating great experiences

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all. I had a huge struggle with pricing early on. Running around trying to wear all the hats with no mental bandwidth for forward thinking. I’ve learned a ton of hard lessons and nearly ran the whole thing into the ground a few times. For the first few years I got used to visualizing complete financial ruin within a few weeks, but jobs always seemed to come in just when all hope was lost. One lesson I learned early on was that if you want to provide a luxury service, you have to position yourself as a luxury product. I keep more of a financial cushion these days, but that feeling of the impending abyss never really goes away.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Whether it’s food or photography, I’m obsessed with exceeding expectations. With cooking I specialize in larger events like weddings and corporate events. With photography I focus on corporate headshots, but I do a ton of other work. It still feels like a dream that I’m able to make a living with photography.
One thing I’m particularly proud of is how many clients tell me I made the experience stress-free and fun. So many of my favorite pictures I’ve taken are of people who warned me how un-photogenic they were beforehand.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Oh man, there’s so many. I went through this majorly transformative period around the time my daughter was born. I’d been on a pretty heavy trajectory through SE Asia, then New Orleans. Hit a point where I had to start taking myself seriously and provide some stability for another human being. Lots of therapy and psychiatry—getting diagnosed and treated for ADHD was absolutely monumental. Helped me drop a lot of bad habits and baggage. The podcast Philosophize This was great for building a better worldview. For the education side, Peter Hurley’s Headshot Crew and way too many mentors to name.

Contact Info:

• Website: Maconheadshots.com, platemacon.com, and maconAIsolutions.com
• Instagram: photo.macon
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maconheadshots/