Meet Teonna Daniels | Photographer & Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Teonna Daniels and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Teonna, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
I think of risks as being a gamble. The bigger the risk, the bigger the payout or outcome. In life we take all kinds of risks and gamble our decisions because we never truly know if we are making the right decision until the decision is already made. For me, my risk has been deciding to become an entrepreneur. Honestly, anyone deciding to step into entrepreneurship is taking one of the greatest risks because you are literally betting on yourself. It takes everything you have to believe in your dream and passion. If you don’t have faith in yourself and believe that you can bring your dream to life, how can you expect anyone else to? As an entrepreneur running a business, we are at the top of our support system. The support starts from within before anyone else supports and believes in your dreams. The day I decided to become a photographer was the day that I decided to bet on myself and was willing to take a risk. When taking these risks, you can’t be afraid and you can’t over think it. It’s something you have to jump straight into the deep end and swim to the top. Me believing in myself and ensuring that I am accomplishing my goals has gotten me to where I am today. I created my own path and continued down my road everyday. I’d say one of my greatest risks of my entire journey has been opening my own studio. I had no intentions on really doing so this early in my journey. I feared that I didn’t have the clientele to fully operate a studio and felt that it would sit empty majority of the time. I am a firm believer that God brings us to a place in life where He forces us to become uncomfortable and take those risks we’re afraid to take. Not only do I use my studio with my clientele, but I also rent my space out to other artists and their clients as well as providing a space for two other business owners to house their businesses. I’ve created a space where artists and creators can come and have the freedom to create and do what they love to do. That alone has made the risk worth taking.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As a photographer, for me it goes beyond taking a simple picture of something or someone. I am creating an experience for my clients and capturing memories for them as well. I ensure to make them comfortable in front of the camera and while they are in my presence too. I am really big on creating and maintaining a welcoming vibe and positive energy when interacting with anyone I encounter. I am extremely proud of how far I’ve come within these past two years and all that I’ve achieved. I knew I’d do great things, but I never imagined it being like this. I am most excited to see the places I can go with my business and building my studio up as well. I love networking and meeting new artist as well as helping others with their journey. I have some new things that I plan to add to my service list as far as one-on-one training for anyone who is looking for a mentor to help them with their photography journey and kick start their business. I also am open to helping anyone get started on their entrepreneur journey as well because there is no road map or guide given when you decide to start your own business. To get to where I am today, it took a lot of courage, dedication, patience, and trial/error. I make sure that I remain humble and always teachable because I can never learn enough things and I try to look for other ways I can be the best me I can be professionally. It certainly was not easy, but it’s not supposed to be easy. If it were easy, then everyone would be doing it. Nothing in life worth having is going to come easy. You must work for it and dedicate yourself to your aspirations. There will be bumps in the road. You’ll have your high and low moments. There will also be times where you doubt and question what exactly is it that you’re doing. I’ve overcame all of my obstacles by remaining faithful in God and trusting that this is my calling and He would not have brought me here for me not to succeed and prosper. I remain confident in myself and devote my time to continuing each day because it can seem so easy to give up but I had to realize that this is so much more than me. Not only am I depending on me to show up for myself, but I have an entire community of people who depend on me as well and see me as an inspiration to their motivation. That is what has kept me going. When going into entrepreneurship, you have to know and understand that everything is not always going to be rainbows and sunshine. Instead of seeing it as a bad thing, you have to look at it as an opportunity to strengthen yourself and reflect on what is it that this challenge is trying to teach you in that moment. It is all apart of the process. I’d say that some of the main lessons that I’ve learned along the way have been to stay true to myself and my morals, not all money is good money, and remain positive and optimistic when it comes to your goals and ambitions. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned throughout my journey and just in life in general, is to live in the moment and celebrate your wins big or small. These are literally times that I’ve prayed for and I have to enjoy my moments and live in them. It can be easy to rush through life and try to search for what is next but don’t rush them. It is never too late to get started on whatever dreams you have set for yourself. All you need to do is take the first steps to get started. You never know where life will take you once you’ve taken the first steps. I never imagined photography being a passion that I’d grow to love. Before starting my business, I had only taken photography my senior year in high school for fun. After graduating high school, my mom bought me a camera and I didn’t touch it for two years. It wasn’t until I was volunteered to take senior pictures for a close family friend that I even discovered my passion. Sometimes we just need to be pushed into things to find our purpose. That was the day that started everything and I was introduced to my purpose. From that point, I practiced and practiced until I found someone I could learn from to strengthen my skills. That was the start of TeeShotIt. I want everyone to know that anything is possible as long as you believe in yourself. I want people to be able to hear and learn from my story. I hope it can be some type of inspiration and motivation to help you to start your own journey. This is only the beginning of my story because I have several chapters to fulfil and my goal is to network with as many people as possible so that more people can meet me and get to know the face behind my business.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am from Indianapolis, Indiana born and raised. As I’ve gotten older and spend a lot of my time downtown, whether I am at my studio located in the Stutz building or hanging out, I’ve discovered some chill places to hang. Before moving into my studio, I’d look for different places to chill and get some work done while socializing with some good food or tea. Tea’s Me Cafe had become a place that I’d frequent. Variety of food choices and teas as well. When looking for something good to eat, these are a few places that I’ve tried and loved. If you’re looking for a good chicken sandwich, the first places I am going to tell you to try is Worlds Famous Hot Boys Chicken in Fountain Square or BruBurger on Mass Ave. You can never go wrong with either spots. For my seafood lovers, Crab 99 or Salt on Mass Ave are great choices. Love tacos? Condados on Mass Ave. If you can’t tell, I spend a lot of time downtown of Indianapolis. Have a sweet tooth and need a good dessert, The Cavity Facotry is a new and hot cookie spot here. Some may also know it as the Pink Truck with the cookies.Hangout spots that are fun with good drinks, Punch Bowl Social, The Amp, The Garage, or Pins. There are times I’ll turn to Tiktok to find new things to do and try here in the city.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
For starters, I would love to shout out my family for believing in me and my dreams because they were my first clients when I was trying to practice and get some work to show. Huge thank you to all of my clients that have ever booked me for a photoshoot, shouted me out or referred anyone to me for my services, and trusting me with your visons. My business wouldn’t operate without you. Shout out to Through Her Lens Studio for being my first photography family and welcoming me in with open arms. I’ve learned so much from you all especially Erica! Thank you to all of the artists that have booked my studio and made it their new home as I do strive to ensure my studio is a safe space to create, be yourself, and allow it to be an outlet to release as needed. Thank you to my intern Kivonte Houston for helping me build my studio space whether it’s bouncing ideas off each other for different workshops, bringing new people into the studio, and helping everyone stay consistent with producing high quality content through his videography services. Thank you to Brittany Marcus for giving me this opportunity to share my story with the world. It’s not always what you know, but who you know. Lastly, I’d like to thank God for making all of this possible and giving me the dream to begin with. I would be nothing without Him and I dedicate all my success to Him.

Website: https://www.teeshotit.com

Instagram: tee_shotit

Facebook: Teonna Daniels

Other: TikTok: _.tete (TeeShotIt)

Image Credits
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