In this episode of the Possibilities with Monique de Maio podcast, we interview two entrepreneur women, Tracey Wishik and Meghan Crotty, co-founders of Meghan & Tracey Photography. They share their journey to becoming successful entrepreneurs and offer advice to others who are thinking about starting their own business.

On today’s episode we dive into the following key themes:

• Be passionate about what you do. If you’re not passionate about your business, it’s going to be difficult to succeed.
• Be prepared to work hard. There’s no such thing as a get-rich-quick scheme when it comes to starting your own business. It takes hard work, dedication, and perseverance.
• Don’t be afraid to fail. Everyone fails at some point. The important thing is to learn from your failures and keep moving forward.
• Find a mentor, or two…Mentors can provide you with guidance and support as you navigate the entrepreneurial journey.
• Be yourself and have fun!

0:00 Introduction to Meghan and Tracy

4:28 The Journey to Becoming Business Owners

7:39 Challenges Faced as Entrepreneurs

13:43 The Importance of Partnership in Business

16:01 Importance of Empathy and Attention to Detail

18:40 Building a Supportive Community Among Women Business Owners

22:43 Overcoming Geographic and Professional Boundaries

28:01 Navigating Advice and Finding Trusted Resources

About our guests: 

Meghan Crotty was born and raised a New Jersey girl, originally from Teaneck. and then spent her formative years in Ringwood. Her photography journey began in high school in the dark room where she became really hooked on photography while she was working toward her degree. She worked for as many different photographers as she possibly could. Meghan worked for a variety of wedding photographers and focused on that side of that for quite some time. It wasn’t until she assisted with a newborn and maternity photographer that she realized another avenue she would fall in love with.

She became part of the Little Nest Portraits team, which is the previous name of their studio in 2017 as the lead photographer. Through this experience, she has met and photographed countless maternity, newborn first birthday, and all family milestones you can possibly think of. In 2018, Tracy joined the team, and to be honest, at first, they didn’t quite click, but it took some time, but after a year working together, they became somewhat inseparable.

A lot of their clients can’t tell them apart. Outside of photography, Meghan loves food, all things that smell good. Her fiance, Luis and her beloved cat, Chachi. In her free time, you’ll find Meghan snuggled up with her cat for an afternoon nap or deep, deep into some french fries.

Tracey Wishik grew up in Bergen County until she moved out to Jefferson Township. Her dad bought her first camera with film when she was eight years old and she never turned back. Tracey was in and out of the darkroom at high school until she went to Syracuse University and then pretty much moved into the dark room. She got her BFA in fine art photography with an emphasis in creative writing. She had no idea that that’s all she wanted to do, but she did know that whatever it was that she was gonna end up doing had to have a camera in her hand and then she’d be happy.

Tracey bounced around doing part-time photo gigs, events, weddings, product photography, portraiture, HTML, CSS code, Customer service, pretty much everything. She wears a lot of hats and is a very detail-oriented person. Finally, she met the Little Nest team in 2018 and they fell in love. During the past four years, she has grown in her craft and formed deep connections.

Though Meghan thought she was a little odd and unique at first, they’re pretty much inseparable now. They’re like sisters. Outside of photography, Tracey loves animals, all animals. And there are a lot of those. She’s also a big plant mom and a bigger foodie. And recently just turned vegan. Tracey can usually be found watching a horror movie with some popcorn or at a greenhouse finding the next addition to her house.