Meet Mike McCall, a photographer, videographer, drone pilot and entrepreneur. He grew up in Montana but has called Coeur d’Alene home for the past 11 years.

Generation:

I generally consider myself a millennial. I was a ’90s kid.

Career and community involvement:

I run my own business, McCall Media, which I started in 2011. I specialize in real estate, architectural and aerial photography and videography. I’m also a member of Impact Club Coeur d’Alene. We're a group of more than 100 venture capitalists who love our community and meet quarterly to vote for a local charity in which we pool our donations together and present a check to at the end of the event. It’s one of the most rewarding things I am a part of!

1. What do you find the most fulfilling about photography?

Helping others. Many times people need to sell their home quickly due to unexpected circumstances, or they just need to move on to the next chapter in their lives. Providing professional photos and video for their listings really helps attract buyers resulting in a quicker sale for the highest value. I’m also lucky to have awesome clients who are fellow entrepreneurs and continually inspire me to grow and better myself.

2. What is something rewarding about having your own media company, and what's been a challenge?

Being my own boss has been both challenging and rewarding. I’ve made so many mistakes, especially when I was newer in business. I knew very little about how to run a business when I jumped into this. But I learned a lot from my mistakes and kept pushing forward. The rewarding part of this is being able to make a living doing something that I truly love doing. That makes all the challenges and struggles worth it.

3. What has been your proudest moment so far, in life or career?

My first paid gig. I photographed a friend of a friend’s band during one of their gigs in Spokane. I was paid 15 bucks. The photos I took were probably not very great. It seems hilarious now, but it was my first paid gig and the moment I realized that maybe I could actually make a living with photography.

4. What is something people would be surprised to learn about you?

I’m a music geek and have been an avid record collector for many years. I have a couple thousand LPs and 45s in my collection. They come in handy during those marathon editing sessions.

5. If you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?

Oh man, so many things come to mind. The greatest piece of advice would be to educate myself on how to run a business. Starting out I was putting all of my effort into bettering myself as a photographer. I knew very little about running a business, which made things much more challenging than they needed to be. I always tell younger folks looking to get into photography that they should also be learning about business because most photographers today are freelance.

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Devin Weeks can be reached by email: [email protected] Follow her on Twitter: @DevinCDAPress