I’m at my desk and honestly have no idea where this blog post is going. Great opening line, right?
My heart is heavy this morning, and I know someone is going to need to hear what is on in.
This business and this industry is amazing. It has given me so much joy and freedom to live a life I absolutely love. I can take my kids to school, be there for their games, cook dinner (ok, make sandwiches) and drop it all if a friend needs me in the middle of the day. I’ve also gotten to know some of the most wonderful people. They’ve gone from clients to close friends and for that I am so thankful.
With all that said, the photography business can also be draining - both physically and emotionally.
I have made the mistake of pushing myself too hard over the years, taking on too many clients (mostly because I wasn’t priced correctly to make enough profit) and losing sleep to editing images because of my control freak nature (and again, not priced high enough to outsource my retouching). That’s a story for another day!
Now, this isn’t meant to be a depressing post. I want you to learn from my mistakes, my long hours, my many years of not knowing how to say no. I scrambled to find the answers and learned from trial and error (a lot of errors haha!). There were no Facebook groups (are you in mine?), hardly any forums where women were welcomed in with open arms and Instagram hadn’t even been thought of. At this point in my photography career I’ve pretty much made all the mistakes and it’s smooth sailing. We’ve got pricing figured out, workflow is on point and now it’s just shooting and marketing. I seriously love my job.
So if you are struggling . . .
. . . to find a rhythm, to set yourself apart in an oversaturated market, to get organized, to price yourself correctly . . . know that it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process. And the growing pains are totally worth it.
If you want to take action, speed up the process, bypass some of the mistakes and learn from a girl who has been through them all, I would love to work with you. Mentoring other senior photographers has become a passion of mine, and I get just as much joy from it as I do working with my high school seniors.
Reach out if you need a little help with your senior photography business. You don’t have to do this alone :)
