This season, I am currently learning how to practice patience: patience and grace! Right now, in the children and family lifestyle photography business world, this would be one of the busiest times of the year! It’s Holiday portrait season and this is probably one of my most favorite times! This is where I (usually) would be getting the chance to connect with all of my lifetime clients and catch up with them to see how they’ve been throughout the year! I would get to play with all my little clients and remark on how much they’ve grown and how much their interests have changed and their likes and dislikes! I would be tromping through many different locations and having so much fun on adventures with all my different families playing swamp monster, peek a boo monster or even floor monster! I would be designing holiday cards and dressing up pretty packages with all the lovely wrapping paper and ribbon I could find from Home Goods! But today, today I’m practicing patience!
But this year things are very different! Our family made a very big, and wonderful decision for us and moved to a little town that we call home now here in Florida! While it’s been amazing for us as a family; and also for us as individuals too… it’s been hard for me as a small business owner. I have to be honest with myself about that. I was nervous about that before we left Virginia Beach, but not enough I think to be truthful with myself. I don’t think I really thought about it much because there was so much to do and I was thinking about all the other great things we were gaining!
Now that we are here and all tucked in and thriving and loving it… I think it’s time for me to give myself permission to say: it’s hard to starting your business over again in a new state. There’s a part of me that feels like I had really started doing what I always wanted to do in Virginia Beach! I had really started to find my people and my tribe! I had really started to become that “lifetime photographer” for some truly amazing families that were more than just clients. They were truly friends and an extension of my family! There is this feeling of man… now it’s just gone and it was just starting to really happen! There’s also this deep, deep fear of am I ever going to be able to gain that same kind of trust with families here, the same way that I was trusted by my families back in Virginia Beach?! Because that was something so incredibly special. I mean that was down right magical!
You see… these are the kind of thoughts that can make a girl spiral out, but they happen! They are human and when I was talking to Tuck today in the car I realized that I need to give myself permission to feel these feelings as ugly and unproductive as they are!
I also need to give myself a little bit of grace and a little bit of faith and trust! It’s been 6 months since we moved to Celebration and really that’s not a whole lot of time in our tiny little town! Most of our town is away for the summer or takes a break from photography because it’s just so darn hot! Summer would have usually been my busiest season but down here, I learned it will be my “off” season, especially because I’m a children and family photographer. Tuck and I realized that this would be an amazing opportunity for me to go back home for a bit and work with my beloved families in Virginia Beach!
I also realized I need to practice some more patience. I really could use more patience in my life all around! This is something personally I could work on forever and ever!
Six months is nothing in terms of business life, especially when I haven’t been doing anything differently! I have made friends and made connections and tried my old approach: what I used to do back in VB where I grew up and knew a ton of people. Here, while that’s great and it is a small community, I need to realize it’s going to take more than just word of mouth!
It’s going to take hustle, a lot of patience, and also continuing to build up my brand with my blog, personal projects to keep my skills up and some sessions that are for me and my portfolio!
I think the biggest thing I’m realizing as I start this new kind of hustle is that I”m not really starting over… I’m just starting where I left off but in a new chapter!
It’s important always to remember that great adventures take time! I don’t want this to be just a page or just a small chapter in my journey. I want it to be a great adventure!
Great adventures also need to have permission to fail! They have ups and downs! There always has to be a bit of a conflict in order for there to be triumph~
If you ever have to start over in a new place, or you find yourself stuck somewhere in your business…. just remember these three things:
- Give yourself Permission to feel how you are feeling! It’s OK to not feel OK about the situation. It’s OK to feel scared or sad or worried or even not know where to go or what to do! As long as you can feel it and then decide to DO something about it and move forward!
- Give yourself grace: Allow yourself to feel how you felt without blame. Own whatever situation you are in and do it without beating yourself UP! YOU ARE HUMAN! We make mistakes. We also pick ourselves back up and we learn from them!
- Make a plan! Move forward! If you want this dream of yours, you have to figure out how to get it! Do what you need to do to, pick yourself back up and then make a plan to go after it! Remember: Peter Pan couldn’t fly without Tinkerbell’s Pixie Dust! We all need a little help because we can’t do it all on our own. When we get the help we need though, we find our Neverland!
Hoping to get back on my plan today friends When I figure out exactly what that is, I will share it with you!
