Happy Friday lovelies! I hope your week has been wonderful. My week was filled with sessions and 1st grade homework and kid snuggles and husband snuggles and all.the.editing….and I count it all as a win. Being here and available and with my people is what makes my heart the most happy.
I regularly get asked about how I accomplish everything on my normal, day-to-day, schedule while running a successful business and having a family. I wear a lot of hats, my plate is often really full, and I want to take the chance to reassure you friends out there that you are not alone in feeling a time struggle in your work/life balance. You aren’t alone in feeling like you just can’t squeeze everything into one 24 hour period. You are not alone in feeling that your life gets trapped in that icky, sticky, gross 4 letter word that no one really likes but everyone tends to use as an excuse…busy. You aren’t alone feeling “small” because your schedule doesn’t match other photographers out there. Maybe you are new to working full time and you aren’t quite sure what a “normal” schedule even looks like. Maybe you are a mama with teeny littles at home and you are only able to work at night after the kids are in bed. Maybe you are a seasoned vet in your business but you are feeling restless and it’s making you reassess how you want to spend your daily work schedule. Whatever your situation…this blog series is for you.
My beautiful friend Mary Marantz and I had a conversation yesterday that left me feeling so validated and encouraged that I had to share with with you what we talked about. We discussed the importance of being honest about how we spend our time as photographers. We talked about all of hours and running around working when we first started. This is my 10th year in business and I can whole heartedly say that it has taken an intense amount of work thus far. We talked about the next generation currently entering the photography industry and how these people could use a pat on the back and a giant, ” You’re doing it and doing it well.” So….thats where I come in. I’m ready to tell you guys the good, bad, big, small, and honest parts of how I run my business right now. Hold on tight. My days are so adventurous you might need oxygen and a glass of wine just to come down after reading this list. 😉 #iwinatsarcasm Here are all the the “normal” roles I play every day.
I’m a photographer. I run a full time business that allows me to provide for my family, make my clients feel beautiful, and meet new people everyday…which the extreme extrovert in me adores. I am a wife. I have a husband who has loved me for 10 whole years and together we have two sweet babies. *These babies of mine aren’t TECHNICALLY babies anymore…but 6 and 4 and their little faces still look like they did when they were first born. I am a part of an amazing church community, host a small group in my home every Tuesday night, and lead worship every week. I mentor. I volunteer in my city. I’m on the PTO. I work with wedding organizations in town. I lead a Pursuit group and help facilitate a Rising Tide Society. I got tired just typing that all out.
In keeping with the spirit of transparency, here is my daily schedule( in writing):
6:45- Wake up and get my boy ready for school
7:15- Boy and Husband leave for school/work
7:30- Coffee and quiet time and I SOMETIMES get to sneak in editing for an hour before school starts for my girl
8:45- Take my girl to school and head to the gym (or meet with my wedding organization, AWP, in town. OR have a coffee date with a friend or client)
10:30- Head back to my home office to edit/blog/album design/respond to emails/return phone calls
12:00- Pick up my girl from school head home for lunch
1:00- Put my girl in front of a movie or a stack of books and toys in my office and let her have at it *Disney parents better than me sometimes…wish I were kidding. *insert same list from 10:30 HERE*
2:30- Pick up my boy from school and head back home to work (yup…that 10:30am list continued) while they read/watch a movie/draw/do homework
5:00- Husband comes home and we make dinner/do homework/do showers for the kids/take time to sit all together.
8:00ish- Kids go to bed
8:15- Open wine and resume, for the 4th time, that list from 10:30 until bed.
That’s a Monday. My Tuesdays are way busier and the weekends are an entirely different schedule themselves. A few times a week my evenings contain portrait sessions. Around 20 weekends a year contain weddings and the rest are spent on sessions or pulling away to just.be.wife.and.mom.
Why am I telling you guys this? Why write all of this out and lay my work life mess bare? Because I want to hear it. I want to hear someone else say that what I do and how I do it is valid and enough and damn near exactly as it should be. I’m telling YOU this so you don’t look at the life of other creatives…other professional photographers in your area and think that if you aren’t doing exactly as they are doing, you are failing. Because the beauty of this life and this job is that it bends and forms and molds to each one of us who are willing to fight through weight of owning a business and being our own boss.
Next Friday Im going to tell you how I make that 3-5 interrupted hours work for me. I can’t wait!
**and THANK YOU a thousand times over to Ashley at Scobey Photography for making sure my beautiful family has amazing pictures. My kids want to go back to the park and play in the rain because of you.
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