Announcement | I’m a full-time photographer!

May 22, 2017

You heard it right…I’m a full time photographer and business owner!!  I am so excited and terrified and about a million emotions rolled into one, but I know this is the right step for my life and I’m so ready.  I wanted to share a bit about my journey to this point, and be really honest for a bit.

 

I started my business in the summer of 2009.  I had determined that summer that I wanted to do this with my life, and decided to go out on my own.  I really had no idea what I was doing, definitely didn’t know anything about running a business, and was still in college.  I photographed everything and everyone I could get my hands on for a couple of years, charged little to nothing, but loved every minute of it.  I did this for a few years, and things grew.  I was asked to shoot my first wedding in 2011 (after second shooting quite a bit) and was elated and terrified.  Luckily, I had clients who had faith in me and it was a great day 🙂  I then really pushed to pursue running this little business of mine through the rest of college, and the year between graduation and my wedding.  And then we moved…

 

After my husband and I got married in August of 2013, we moved to Michigan for him to get his master’s degree.  He was a full time student, and I was full time paying the bills.  I made some amazing friends during this time, and learned that networking can not only help your business but can keep you sane as a business owner.  I dabbled in film photography and learned how to shoot video.  Both of these things were distractions from the fact that the business wasn’t successful…I almost threw in the towel.  I remember a night, sobbing on the living room floor, telling my husband that it was over.  He said something to me that I will never forget, “But you can’t quit, because this is who you are.”  Who I am…as a person.  I guess I can’t quit then.  Needless to say it was a rough couple of years, but in the end I just kept pushing.  I kept working, and learning, and doing it.  To be honest, I think subconsciously I knew that we weren’t going to settle in Michigan.  I ran my business, went to the bridal shows, did all the things, but at the same time I knew that 2 years isn’t enough time to build anything and then we would leave.  Then we moved again…

 

When we moved to Kansas City I knew that it would take some time for my business to be financially viable and so in the meantime I was going to need to do something else to help support my family.  I got a part time job, which about a year ago cut my hours, and then recently determined that my availability just didn’t work, so here we are.  In the meantime, we decided we wouldn’t be moving from KC in the foreseeable future and I hit the pavement.  I went to every networking event I could, I did bridal shows and online listings, I put myself out there every chance I got.  And for some reason this time it clicked…KC was like the breath of fresh air that both I and my business needed.  The wedding industry here is amazing, and the people in it have been more supportive than I ever could have imagined.  As I’ve talked about before, I feel like this time something worked and I’ve built something real out of this little business started in my childhood bedroom.  I was on track to quit my part time job in July, but now I got pushed out the door, so to speak.  Honestly, I think that this was a blessing in disguise. I’m terrible at quitting things, even when I should, so now I have no choice.  As of today, I’m officially a full time photographer 🙂

 

Now what?  It’s time to figure out what being a full time business owner means.  I’ve always been pretty good at time management and internal motivation, but now I own 100% of my time which can be a blessing and a curse.  I’m excited about the creative space that has been opened up for the next big thing, projects that have never gotten off the ground, interactions with other business owners, and opportunities I haven’t pursued.  I think my first project is going to create a schedule of sorts for myself so I can get some consistency in my life and structure in place.  Next will be some new marketing ideas and efforts, and then another announcement coming down the pipe.  It’s an exciting time 🙂

 

I happened upon a quote a few days ago from Eleanor Roosevelt, “Do one thing every day that scares you.”  Think about that for a second…and think about how many of you amazing business owners out there are already doing this?!  I am constantly in awe of the amazing people around me out there killing it and hustling to build something amazing.  And sometimes it’s scary, and sometimes it’s just down right sucky, but we’re in this together!  I am all about working alongside and learning from the amazing business owners around me, and helping out those that need it in return.  Together, we’ve got this.

 

Any full time business owners have any words of wisdom?  I’d love to hear them in the comments!  Anyone want to grab lunch?  I’m totally down!  Let’s do this!  #communityovercompetition

 

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