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Welcome to the Chaos

Mia Etelaaho • September 17, 2024

About Me

A black and white photo of a woman taking a picture

Hey there, you found me! If you've stumbled upon this welcome post, there's a good chance that you're an OG, so firstly a huge thank you to you for joining me on this journey. For those of you who aren't an OG or even just wanted a brief history lesson - howdyyyyy, go grab a cuppa & let's get acquainted. 


My name is Mia, perhaps you worked that out, you clever cookie, and I'm a twenty-something* year old just working on yet another business venture. This business however, has well and trulystuck and somehow even succeeded. 


Why may you ask? Because being a photographer had been my dream from the age of fourteen. Honestly, I think it was earlier, however fourteen sounds dope as of this moment, as that's half my life and yes, now you have all of the relevant information to calculate my age... 

If you realllllly want to know more about the gal behind the lens and now keyboard, you can check out my about me. 


*We are sticking to twenty-something because there is no way I would remember to update my age in things and it definitely has nothing to do with my denial of closing in on thirty.

Why Blogging?

Cool Mia, you press buttons on a camera and share them with the world - so why start a blog after a year in business?


I've always been a bit of a blogger, with varying degrees of success. Admittedly, I love talking and over sharing. I have a weird combination of interests that honestly don't seem to fit the mould of a singular person (bragging moment here, I'm an accountant, that studied positive psychology and then became  a photographer). For me, blogging always seemed to be my outlet to the world of my weird and wacky interests, it provided a sense of purpose and an opportunity to potentially help others.


Secondly, the day this comes out is the official one year anniversary of the business AND the transition day from side hustle to full time work. As I re-establish myself in the big smoke, I'll have some time on my hands and limited funds to work with, so blogging time is yet again there!

What can we expect?

Nonsense. You can expect nonsense. Just kidding!

It's a lot of real talk about being a business owner that you can expect from these posts. It's what to do when the imposter syndrome kicks in, when you have 1,000 questions but no one to ask and just like a "dayyyyum, this business bestie gets it" environment to escape in.  I'll be chatting about my own journey into business ownership, my relationship with mental health during this time and my learnings as a photographer.


The goal is to post at least once a month! I have quite a few topics already in the works, but at any stage, feel free to reach out and let me know about what topics you'd like to hear more about.


Let's keep this short (like me) and sweet for a first post & hope to see you around again.


Love,
M x

By Mia Etelaaho January 8, 2025
In this blog post, we will chat all things editing!
A woman is sitting on a crate on the side of the road.
By Mia Etelaaho December 1, 2024
Admittedly, there is a degree of sarcasm when I say Meet the Team . For 80% of Memories by Mia, the team is me, myself and I. However, there is a very important group of people that do fill this extra 20% that I very much attribute today's success to... Yas from Desire Beauty Academy | My Informal Business Coach For those of you who don't know, Yas was my first paying customer. From here we grew to biz besties - she helped me with learning how to protect myself via policies, processes & insurances. We are now besties in general - you'll often see us out trying new foods or sipping a fruity cocktail. Hollie from Moni Finance Group | Networking Queen Hollie actually began as my mortgage broker, who didn't even end up doing any brokerage as my life changed direction. However, when I moved to Brisbane she became one of my biggest supporters, an incredible referral partner and all round just a great friend. Jonathon Perna & Briannah Starkey from Infinity Financial Consultants | Financial Advisor I'll keep and short and sweet - if you need financial advice that's actually understandable and will show proven results, look no further than this power team. Alex Watson from Go2It | IT Guru I'm somewhat tech savy, but the idea of building a PC to handle my needs was not within my scope, so I handed this task over to the very capable and very knowledge Alex. Stephanie & Brendan from GGC Media | Website Designer GGC Media provided a wealth of market knowledge, feedback and support at the beginning of Memories by Mia. In addition to this, they also created this very website and continue to help me implement all sorts of new functions on it as we grow the MBM Collective. Taylor Johnson from Cockatoo Creative | Graphic Designer For many reasons, Taylor is incredible at what she does. Whether it be building up a community, providing design advice or just giving direction with tools to use - she's a gem to have in the back pocket! Tia Harrison from Golden Hour Marketing | Social Media Manager Need to know what's changing in the social media world? Tia is your go to! Although I didn't end up utilising the services of Golden Hour, the advice within Golden Hour's posts still helps me to this day with knowing the upcoming trends. FitPrint | Uniforms & Merch If you're looking for high quality uniforms or merch - I HIGHLY recommend FitPrint as a supplier! Every single customer - you have all contributed to this journey. For every photoshoot there is something learnt or gained. & most importantly all my friends and family. I feel this list will always keep growing, and this truly warms my heart to know that I am so supported. Much Love, M x
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Honestly, this could be a never ending list...
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