This is part of a series called "One Entrepreneur's Journey," where I'm talking with solo entrepreneurs about their successes (and failures) along the path of entrepreneurship.

In this interview, I spoke with Donna Santos, a Toronto-based photographer who helps entrepreneurs and small business owners authentically portray their passion through photography, while helping them to accomplish their strategic marketing objectives.

Tell me a little about your business and how you got your start as an entrepreneur.

I am what you can call a people photographer.  I use the creative medium of photography to help entrepreneurs portray their passions through portraits and headshots.  I have expanded also to fulfill some of the photo requirements that most small businesses need, like for websites, catalogs, product shots, lifestyle shots.

My background is in television, and I've mostly done production management in the industry, and alongside that, I'd been doing photography on the side.  In 2008, an opportunity came.  The television industry was so slow, and it was a good time for me to pursue photography full time.

Let's talk about strengths and weaknesses.  What are some things that you have right as an entrepreneur, and what are things that you struggle with?

I guess I'll start with the strengths.  When I was thinking about going into photography full time, I had a business and life coach that I started with, and I think she has helped me a lot in establishing the core foundations and core values of me as a business person, and I think that is a very important thing to have before you even venture out, because your core values will never change.

I think one of the most common struggles that I have is being overwhelmed, doing creative things and at the same time trying to run my business.  There are so many things to take care of, and my to-do list has been expanding.  One of my weaknesses is not knowing what to do when I'm overwhelmed with information or things to do.  I kind of get paralyzed.

How are you overcoming that?

One of the best things that I've done for myself is hire a virtual assistant.  Just to have a project off of your head and freeing up space in your mind is such a great thing, knowing someone else is taking care of it as you do other things.  That's one of the things I have found very helpful, and also I think time blocking is a good thing.  I schedule my day in blocks of time.

What do you wish you would have known before starting your business?

If I would have only known how fulfilling an entrepreneur's life is, I would have done it sooner.

What is your best advice for new entrepreneurs?

There's a lot of help and resources available to you.  It's just a matter of a phone call or asking for help.  There are a lot of freelancers out there that you don't have to hire full time that can probably do the job for you better than you can.  There are experts that you can hire on a project basis and learn from.  You don't have to do it all on your own.

Also, be sure what you want to do before you let go of your full time job.  Knowing exactly what you want is a big factor.  If you're still testing the waters, I think you can do that while you still have a job.  Assess yourself carefully.

I think it helps to have an actionable and realistic business plan in place and a follow-through attitude.  I'm guilty of this.  I like doing business plans, but sometimes, I just put it in my file, and it just sits there.  Put it where you can actually see it.  Have a regular time to flip through it and see where you're at in your business and rejig your plan, if things have changed.  Your business plan is there for a purpose.  It's not there to be kept in your filing cabinet.

And, if you need business advice, turn first to your industry experts.  They will know your industry, your market, competition, the trends in your industry.  I think it will save you a lot of time and money if you go straight to the industry experts.

The last advice I could give is, keep the passion for your craft alive.  Make sure that the struggles in your business doesn't ruin the romance between you and your passion.  I think it's really important to keep the fire in there.  If you have that passion, it's what other people are going to see in you.