I’ve been AWOL and feel like I have some explaining to do 😅. Without further delay, lets get into things!

BUT BEFORE WE START… here’s a photo of me looking fly! Because why not? 😉

I started my photography business with the goal of loving what I do and having time to do things outside of work that I love. This past year I felt like my business was running me with the amount of time I spend working on things. Between editing, to marketing, planning shoots, shooting, networking, customer service, there’s ALWAYS something that needs to be done. Initially, I believed that I wasn’t working hard enough and that if I simply powered through things I’ll be able to get them done. The time I would spend on personal activities I put into my photography thinking that the extra hours of work would add up and I’d get over the hump where I can finally enjoy life. But I quickly (read: after 11 months 😂) I learned that wasn’t the case.

I felt defeated because I couldn’t minimize the time I spent working without reducing the amount of work I take in. I didn’t feel overwhelmed by the volume of work, but there are a lot of things that need to be done with every shoot and doing those things seemed to take me longer than others. “How were they able to stay on top of their business, have time to socialize, AND do the things they enjoy?!” I wondered. Was I not smart enough? Did I not want it badly enough? I was putting in the time, but I just couldn’t get over this mountain of things I needed to do to get to the things I wanted to do. I accepted this as the norm of being a business owner and became okay feeling hopeless. Since we all go through this, I just have to deal with it and keep a smile on my face. On one hand, I’m blessed to have the opportunity to follow my dreams like I wanted, but on the other hand it was at the expense of not completely living the life I wanted.

I remembered a quote that said “You can not solve a problem with the same level of thinking that got you into it.” First time I read it, I brushed it off thinking of it as a lofty ideal, You have to level up the way you think in order to find a new solution that works. My past method of pausing everything in my life until I finished stemmed from my habit of waiting until the week before finals to do my studying cramming. I decided to consult a book I have heard countless praise for but put off reading: The 7 Habits of Highly Success People.

Part 2 of the blog will go into detail on what I learned since starting the book, changes I’ve made in my life and business and what’s coming next. 😎 I didn’t plan on this being as long as it was, nor publishing it today rather than yesterday, but I’m glad it’s out, I can pat myself on the back, take a sigh of relief, and “level up” my approach for this week’s blog entry. Whoops, I let it slip that part 2’s coming out this week! 😆