Episode 49: From Side Hustle to Full Time: Heather Mahoneys Leap into Business and Rising Together

What happens when life pushes you to finally go all in on your dream? In this inspiring conversation, Jennifer Kok sits down with branding and headshot photographer Heather Mahoney to talk about her journey from nurse to full-time entrepreneur, how fear almost held her back, and the incredible women’s project she created that’s lighting up the local community.

• Facing Fear and Going All In
• The Rising Together Project
• The Power of Supportive Communities
  
  

Why Listen?
Because this isn’t just a story about photography. It’s about fear, resilience, creativity, and the magic that happens when women decide to rise together. You’ll walk away encouraged to take your own leap — and to find (or create!) the community that helps you soar.

Meet Your Guest:

Heather Mahoney, I’m a headshot and branding photographer dedicated to helping women feel confident, comfortable, and radiant in front of the camera. My sessions go beyond taking pictures — they’re about capturing authenticity, empowering you to own your presence, and creating images that truly reflect your brand and personality.

https://www.facebook.com/photographybyheathermahoney@heathermahoneycoTikTok @heathermahoneyco

Meet Your Host:

Jennifer Kok has been a business owner for over 25 years and is now a business coach. She turned her first business into a franchise and successfully sold it 20 years later.  She was passionate about building a business and a family at the same time.

I support women entrepreneurs in their second year and beyond as they build businesses and families, helping them achieve Clarity, Confidence, and Consistent Profits.  The reality is, you’ve built a Business You’re Proud Of— but it’s time for it to work for you.

You’re still wearing all the hats, working long hours, and not paying yourself what you deserve. You know there’s more possible. More profit, more clarity, and more freedom to enjoy the life you’re building.

The Earn More Stress Less 9-Pillar Blueprint helps women entrepreneurs with families create profitable, sustainable businesses that finally pay them back — in money, time, and peace of mind.

Join me for a Free Online Workshop:
3 Steps to Boost Profitability: Strategic Shifts to Help Small Business Owners Make More Money.   If you want more profits follow this link to register. 

https://nextwavebusinesscoaching.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nextwavewithjen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nextwavewithjen/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferowenskok
YouTube: http://bit.ly/2M9uX6S

You’ve Built a Business You’re Proud Of -But It’s Time for It to Work for You. You’re still wearing all the hats, working long hours, and not paying yourself what you deserve. You know there’s more possible. More profit, more clarity, and more freedom to enjoy the life you’re building.  The Earn More Stress Less 9-Pillar Blueprint helps women entrepreneurs with families create profitable businesses that finally pay them back. 

Transcript

Jennifer Kok (00:01.144)

Heather, welcome to today's episode. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today.

Heather Mahoney (00:06.813)

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited too.

Jennifer Kok (00:09.902)

So Heather, give us a little sneak peek of what you do. Tell us what your business is and what you do.

Heather Mahoney (00:16.261)

Yeah, I am a photographer. I am a branding and headshot photographer. My main focus is women in business. I empower them to feel confident and comfortable in front of the camera while delivering images that are stunning and breathtaking.

Jennifer Kok (00:33.774)

I love that. And I've been the recipient of some of your stunning and breathtaking images. Thank you for making me look my best. And it's funny because as a branding photographer, it's not something us business owners like raise our hand and say, I can't wait to go have my photo shoot. Or I'm speaking for myself, I guess, because there's work behind it. We have to pick out the outfits. We have to make sure our hair and makeup looks good.

Heather Mahoney (00:36.431)

Yeah.

Jennifer Kok (00:57.224)

And I love how you say you're really focused on helping people capture their confidence and just making it natural and not feel like we're these imposters trying to be these models. And where does that come from? Is that just your natural ability?

Heather Mahoney (01:14.573)

You know, that's a really good question. I think it might come from me being in that same situation. You know, I've always wanted to be behind the camera and not in front of the camera because I either was unhappy with the way I looked or, you know, just lack of confidence. And what I have found was that I was never in any of the pictures, you know, with my family and the kids and things like that. And it just...

it just kind of broke my heart and I'm like, don't want that for anybody else. So yeah, so I'm just very passionate about that.

Jennifer Kok (01:52.782)

You know, that's a great point. And it's probably because us moms are the ones that are always quick to grab the photo. And you know, I'm always doing that, like with my husband and our grandkids and our kids. I'm taking these candid photos, but very few people do it in return. And you wonder if it's inherently part of our job. I feel like we're just good at seeing the moment and wanting to capture it. But you're right. We usually are the ones that are, me put me in the back row or, you know, I don't.

Heather Mahoney (02:20.858)

Yes.

Jennifer Kok (02:21.612)

I don't want to be front and center.

Heather Mahoney (02:23.289)

Yeah, I see that all the time when I'm doing group photos. If it's men and women in a group, whether it's families or it's business teams, a lot of the women are, well, somebody stand in front of me or just hide me this way. And yeah, and that just breaks my heart. I want to help women kind of overcome that. I think we have to overcome that a little bit inside.

you have to trust yourself and of course you have to trust me as the photographer. I think it just comes down to confidence.

Jennifer Kok (02:59.734)

Yeah, that's great. And I applaud you for helping us, you know, giving us that warm, inviting space and just giving us that opportunity to shine because we do need, we all need branding photography. No matter whatever type of business you own, you need photography. So take me back a little bit of how you got into this. This has been a side business. You've been doing photography for about 10 years, right?

Heather Mahoney (03:11.109)

Yeah.

Heather Mahoney (03:21.229)

Yeah, yeah, that's correct. started doing seniors and families. I think when my kids were in school, I just always was taking the sports pictures and things like that. And then when my daughter became a senior and I had to start shopping for my my own senior photographer, I'm like, well, wait a minute, I can do this. And then it just kind of caught on. You know, other other moms were, you know, could you take, you know, my son or my daughter's photos, too? And it just kind of grew.

Yeah, so over the 10 years, just was kind of a side hustle. I would do it in the evenings and on the weekends while I was also working as a nurse for the VA.

Jennifer Kok (04:01.4)

So that was your full-time income was you were a nurse with the VA. Okay. Well, first of all, thank you for being the go-to mom who's willing to take the photos. Cause there was always one of those in the bleachers with me and boy did I appreciate you.

Heather Mahoney (04:07.203)

That's correct. Yeah.

Heather Mahoney (04:13.819)

Yes, yes, know exactly what you mean.

Jennifer Kok (04:20.012)

You would always capture those great candid shots of my daughter playing soccer, my son playing lacrosse. I loved that. So when did you decide to go full time into your business?

Heather Mahoney (04:31.097)

Hmm. Well, yeah. So I had been probably over the last couple years, I kept saying, you know, I really enjoy this and I would love to be able to do this full time. And it just never really felt realistic, I guess. And then I kind of had the push of, well, I was losing my job. So I working for the VA.

The last two years of that career, I was working from home. And when Trump, President Trump, put in the order for all federal employees to start working back in the office, that was me. And that was okay. That was fine. I don't have any issues with that. But my home clinic was Battle Creek, which for me is about a 75 minute drive one way, just one way. So I was like, well, I don't, I can't do that.

Jennifer Kok (05:21.627)

wow, yeah.

Heather Mahoney (05:27.335)

And so I had to make a choice. Do I want to be a full-time photographer or do I want to go work in another clinic somewhere? And my husband was the one that kind of said, well, you you've been asking the universe for this. So there you go. You got what you asked for. So that was in April. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you get scared.

Jennifer Kok (05:43.054)

Isn't that funny? You know, we're always like praying over our business and asking and just wanting, oh yeah, I just want this to be my thing. And then when the opportunity arises, we're like, wait, what? Does that mean now? Like I'm supposed to go now? Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, and then all of a sudden we start telling ourselves all these things. You know, I think it's interesting when you say you wanted it for a couple of years, but it never felt realistic. When you think about like, what is realistic? What was holding you back?

Heather Mahoney (05:58.073)

Yep. Yep.

Heather Mahoney (06:12.324)

think what was holding me back was fear. Fear of, I'm not a business owner. I can't make this work. fear of not having the stability and the consistent paycheck every Friday. I mean, that is really, really scary. And yeah, I wish that I would have just known that earlier that you can do it. I mean, you might have to put yourself in a situation that's not comfortable.

And I almost think that that's okay because that's kind of the fire that you need to live your dream, to do what you want to do.

Jennifer Kok (06:50.477)

It's funny because I hear that often when all of a sudden either somebody loses a job or a spouse loses a job, or it just gets to the point where the side hustle and the full-time job are too much. One thing has to go and any entrepreneur decides to go all in. It's almost like we create our success then where before we could dabble in it, right? If it didn't work, that's okay. But when all of sudden that's it.

Heather Mahoney (07:12.196)

Okay.

Jennifer Kok (07:19.805)

It's go time and it's mentally making that decision that I have to go all in, I have to treat this like a business, this isn't a hobby anymore. And you're right, the fear is huge and lack of stability, that's not a joke and it's something that we have to be aware of because you're right, as entrepreneurs we're not getting that weekly paycheck at first, so we have to plan for it, right? There's some things we can do to plan for it. But I love the fact that

Heather Mahoney (07:40.078)

Right.

Jennifer Kok (07:45.545)

For whatever reason, the political fallout became a blessing for you because all of a sudden you had to go all in.

Heather Mahoney (07:52.772)

Yeah, yeah, 100%. Absolutely.

Jennifer Kok (07:56.239)

So one thing I loved and kind of how you and I met was through a group called Build Up Women and it's local women, know, entrepreneurs. And you were very, very passionate about supporting women business owners, not only because of your heart for making people feel confident and comfortable in front of the camera, but also just like, let's, you know, we're not in competition with each other. Let's support each other. We need more of that. So you created a really cool project called Rising Together.

Heather Mahoney (08:17.178)

Thank

Heather Mahoney (08:24.12)

Yes. Yes.

Jennifer Kok (08:25.494)

Will you tell us what rising together is?

Heather Mahoney (08:28.122)

I would love to, yeah. So it started out, I was just labeling it 50 influential women. And the more women that I spoke to, the more I learned that that's already a very, very popular theme in our area, with good reason. I mean, that's wonderful. So I had to change the name of it, because I wanted it to be a little bit more unique. aside from that, I wanted to...

I knew I wanted to get more involved. I didn't know what that was or really what that looked like, but I knew I wanted to be with women and I wanted to put myself in a group of women that were supportive of other women. They were influential. They were motivating, like for real, because a lot of people say that and I think that they think they mean it, but it's not always the truth. So I wanted these women to be nominated.

by other people in the community that saw the good in them as well. So when I started it, I honestly thought I was going to get maybe 10 women to do this with me. And I was still excited about that. like, this is going to be great. mean, these are going to be great women. yeah, was just overwhelming in a really good way. I had almost 100 nominations. Yes? Yeah.

Jennifer Kok (09:50.424)

Wow, 100 nominations, that's awesome. And people were nominating on social media.

Heather Mahoney (09:56.227)

Yeah, I posted it on the buildup women GR group that we met in and it just exploded. The women, and there were some men that nominated women too, was just incredible. Yeah, it was super, super emotional. I didn't expect it.

Jennifer Kok (10:22.094)

There's so much I love about that. love the fact that women in our community were excited to do that for other women and that, you know, here you were thinking, I'll be happy if I get 10 and you get 100.

Heather Mahoney (10:28.413)

Yes

Heather Mahoney (10:32.494)

Yeah.

Jennifer Kok (10:34.362)

And just the impact, the positivity you brought to social media during that time. Cause how fun. And I remember being a part of it and seeing people tagging other people and talking about how that person helped them or influenced them. And it really was just really rewarding to read. And I think it came at a time too, when we were in the season, you know, we've been this whole year, we've been in the season, a little bit of a negativity when it comes to what we're reading and seeing on social media. So I really appreciated that.

Heather Mahoney (10:54.638)

Yeah.

Jennifer Kok (11:04.034)

fun bright light that you brought to our local socials. Okay, so you got 100 nominations and you had to narrow it down to 50.

Heather Mahoney (11:06.404)

Yeah, thank you.

Heather Mahoney (11:11.842)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which was really interesting because there wasn't a lot that I had to do in regards of weeding people out, if that makes sense. Because a lot of the women, some of them were really excited about it and then some were not. And the ones that were not were a little bit skeptical.

So some people just, they were afraid, I think, to get involved. So that made it kind of easy for me there. I was really looking for women, like I said before, that were supportive of other women and were truly in their heart, wanted to lift other women up and see them do good and succeed. And I could feel that, you know, I would,

have phone conversations with these women and you could feel it. I there were, I think almost every person that I got off the phone with of the 50 women touched me in some way. They motivated me, they taught me something or they just encouraged me. And there were times I got off the phone in tears. mean, it was just in good tears. It was really, really, really awesome.

Jennifer Kok (12:34.67)

So a project that was meant to highlight other women and be a bucket filler for us turned out to be just as rewarding for you.

Heather Mahoney (12:44.601)

Probably more, to be honest. I'm so grateful. Yeah, the whole project has been just incredible. Words can't even describe how it has touched me on such a personal level.

Jennifer Kok (12:47.054)

I love that.

Jennifer Kok (12:57.774)

So you brought these women together and each one of us got a little photo shoot. And I have to I was very honored to be included in part of the 50 women that you selected. And so we each got a photo shoot and then you also put together a book. Tell us about that.

Heather Mahoney (13:13.399)

I did, yeah. And you know, this idea came from one of the 50 women because as this project grew, everybody brought all of these wonderful ideas, you know, and they all wanted to help. So this was an idea from somebody else. It wasn't my idea, but we did a coffee table style book. So each woman had their picture, their photo featured in the book along with a bio talking about either their passion or...

their business or if it maybe was a non-profit that they were running something like that. Yeah, that was so much fun. I loved it. I've had everybody sign their page in my book.

Jennifer Kok (13:55.758)

All right, I'm gonna pause here for a second, because I forgot to grab my bullet.

Heather Mahoney (13:57.335)

Yeah.

Jennifer Kok (14:04.578)

This can be edited out, so that's why I wanted to... I know, and I thought of it right before we hit. Okay, are you ready?

Heather Mahoney (14:07.705)

when you made me think about it, because I was sitting here doing the same thing, I'm like, shoot, it's over there. Yeah.

Jennifer Kok (14:16.258)

Well, I love my book. Here's a copy of it. And it was just so well done. And it's all these awesome pictures of everybody in here and a little bio about everyone. So really cool. Well, then you took it another step further and you had a gala, if you will, take us through that. What made you decide that just having the book and having the photos on social that you needed to also bring all these women together?

Heather Mahoney (14:26.2)

Yeah.

Heather Mahoney (14:33.689)

Mmm.

Heather Mahoney (14:42.551)

Yeah, I felt like everybody needed to meet everybody. I mean, that was kind of the whole point of, not the entire point, but part of it was the connection piece too, was connecting everybody together. And I wanted it to be like, well, let's see how I can help you and you can help me and just bringing everybody together. I thought that would be really exciting.

Jennifer Kok (15:06.296)

So kind of a collaboration, you were looking for a collaboration of these women.

Heather Mahoney (15:08.375)

Yeah, I wanted, you some women knew each other, but many did not. And I thought that was important for the motivation and the connection and the collaboration piece of all that.

Jennifer Kok (15:20.91)

So when you met these 50 women, because like you said, you interviewed each one, what surprised you the most?

Heather Mahoney (15:29.257)

I think what surprised me the most was how much they wanted me to succeed at this project. They turned it back around on me and they're like, this is so great for you and I want this for you and here's an idea. And I'm like, my gosh, I mean, no wonder you were nominated because you're amazing. So that's what really surprised me. Yeah.

Jennifer Kok (15:51.303)

I love that. OK, so let's talk about that. Because you did this, not only you had a desire to do this, but you were at a point where you were building your business full time. And I see a lot of business owners create events or create these type of things that there's no charge. It's just really it's a marketing tool. In addition, there's your hearts behind it, but it can be a marketing tool.

But it's costly. mean, they're not only monetary, what it takes to produce the photos and the book and everything, but also your time. Do you feel it was worth it? let's take us behind the curtain. Do you feel it was worth it, or is it too soon to tell?

Heather Mahoney (16:28.715)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Heather Mahoney (16:37.913)

No, for me anyways, I feel like it was very much worth it. It gave me a lot of recognition. I was able to be on, I was on Fox 17, I was on 8 West, I was on the Shelley Irwin show, and now I'm sitting here speaking with you. yeah, it's been, it's given me a lot of recognition. It's absolutely worth it.

Jennifer Kok (17:01.184)

And that's awesome because now we're getting more eyes on your business and you're showing your heart of your business. And so now people are obviously going to be hiring you for their branding. So that is so cool to hear. Let me ask you this about the 50 women. Did you feel there was a common thread about each one of these women in their businesses?

Heather Mahoney (17:11.789)

Yes.

Heather Mahoney (17:23.263)

Yeah, I think again the common thread, just goes right back to supporting other women and truly meaning it when they say they want to support you. That's definitely the commonality I was seeing. Yeah.

Jennifer Kok (17:38.214)

I love that. Awesome, awesome. Okay, so this spring you went all in on your business. Any regrets? How's it going?

Heather Mahoney (17:45.209)

No, it's going wonderful. The only regret that I would have is that I didn't do it earlier when I said I was going to do it a couple of years ago. But there's a part of me too that feels like, maybe I'm in a different place. You know, I'm a little bit older, so maybe I'm in a little bit of a different place. And I handled it better than maybe I could have a couple of years ago. So maybe that's why it happened that way. Yeah.

Jennifer Kok (18:10.734)

Yeah, that's so true. And you know, there's a lot of women out there growing side hustles and you know, they do it for a creative outlet or they do it because they just have a passion for something. You know, what would you tell them if they're also, if they're you two years ago? So they're sitting here today and they're kind of where you were a couple of years ago where you're hemming and heying and even people around you in your closest circle are saying, go for it, go for it. You know, do you feel like there's any...

Heather Mahoney (18:34.412)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Kok (18:38.792)

strategy to kind of prepare yourself for it? Or do you just have to trust your gut and jump in?

Heather Mahoney (18:46.668)

I think you have to trust your gut. It's funny because I do have this conversation with a couple of my close friends. And I think that you can't let the fear take over you because if you do, it will never happen. You will never take that leap if you just let fear control you. I think that's the biggest part.

Jennifer Kok (19:05.802)

And one that I hear often, fear drives a lot of our non-decisions and, you know, a non-decision is a decision. And you really need to surround yourself with people that will say to you, know, here's what I've seen or here's what you could do or here's how you can prepare. And also just be in the trenches with you. Don't you agree?

Heather Mahoney (19:13.698)

Yep.

Heather Mahoney (19:20.684)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I totally agree. In fact, I have a couple of friends right now that are kind teetering on following their dream, if you will. And the one thing that I have encouraged them to do is put themselves in positions or in situations with other women that have the desire to see you succeed as well. Come to some of the networking groups that I go to. The environment makes a real big difference.

Jennifer Kok (19:52.087)

It really doesn't look for a woman and you're rising together a book because these women, these women want others to succeed. So Heather, what's next for you? You tell us a little bit about your ideal client, how they can find you and you know, what is next for you?

Heather Mahoney (19:55.384)

Yeah, I mean too. They do.

Heather Mahoney (20:05.592)

Yeah.

Yeah, so my ideal client is branding and headshots. Everybody needs an updated headshot. I can help you feel comfortable and confident in front of the camera, I promise. And I think what's next for me, well, I just moved into a new studio, actually. I just signed a lease on that this morning, so I will be moving into a new studio. It's on Broadmoor, so watch for that. Yeah, yes, yeah. Thank you.

Jennifer Kok (20:32.812)

Wow! Congratulations, big bold move. I love it.

Heather Mahoney (20:37.762)

Thank you. And there will be a Rising Together 2026. So be on the lookout for that as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Kok (20:44.706)

There will, I'm excited. Well, thank you for sharing the behind the scenes story of what it takes to jump in, to go all in. And I love how you were so creative and curated this really cool project that helped you, like you said, got you on local news. It really helped you kind of catapult your business. So I hope somebody listening takes that and kind of leans in on that and can come up with their own.

Heather Mahoney (20:58.563)

Thank you.

Heather Mahoney (21:06.669)

Yes.

Jennifer Kok (21:12.002)

type of an event or something that can help them also with their business. And I will be sure to put your website in the show notes. And I just really want to appreciate you for coming on today and just sharing your story.

Heather Mahoney (21:12.31)

Yeah.

Heather Mahoney (21:19.16)

Yeah.

Heather Mahoney (21:24.108)

Thank you so much for having me and honestly if anybody else out there has any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. I'd love to help.

Jennifer Kok (21:32.047)

You should be in the book. We need someone to take photos of you. I can bring my iPhone for 2026, but that's about as good as I can get. But we got to make sure you're in the next book. Thanks Heather. Bye bye.

Heather Mahoney (21:33.624)

You

Heather Mahoney (21:40.473)

No, no, no. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.