I created this podcast as a way to serve. I want to be able to help other photographers, and people in business learn the things that I learned the hard way. I have a strong desire to help other photographers learn and grow in their business. I also want to bring in some of the leading experts in the photography world that will share some of the ways that they do business. First off, I want to put a disclaimer out there, and say, I'm not a naturally gifted public speaker. Actually, public speaking is one of my biggest fears. If you listening in to hear how good of a public speaker I am, you will be disappointed. This way out my comfort zone so I hope you will listen in and not get hung up on the poor speaking ability, but I hope you will listen to the message. I wanted to start this first podcast off by telling you a little bit about me. I think it is helpful to know the person that is delivering the message. I'm a daughter of the king first and foremost. While this podcast is a business podcast primarily, I will have many things that I say that will point back to Christ. It's impossible for me to separate the two as everything I have been able to do in my business is because of the Lord. I'm a wife to Andrew. We have been married for almost 12 years. We started dating our senior year of college. Andrew is in full-time ministry and has been our whole married life. We have 3 girls Ashlyn, Caelyn and Lauryn, and we live in Mobile, Alabama. I'm southern without the accent. I love peach tea, shrimp, grits, and biscuits and gravy. We love living on the coast. I began my start with photography 10 years ago. I have to tell you how I got my first camera because this is quite a story. I knew I wanted to buy a camera. I always loved taking photos, and really anything creative I enjoyed. Andrew and I were newly married. We didn't have a lot of money as we were first starting out. I knew that if I wanted to buy a camera, we would have to sacrifice and save up for a while, or I could sell something of value to be able to buy a camera. That is what I did. I sold the only thing of value I had at the time, and that was my wedding dress. I have no regrets though. That put me on the path I am on. I'm not a super sentimental person so it didn't really even phase me to do that. I bought my first camera and began taking photos of anything and everything. A lot of senior portraits, a lot of families, even newborns. For the longest time, I thought I would want to specialize as a newborn photographer. That makes me giggle now because newborns are the one subject that is super difficult for me to photograph. I am a completely self-taught photographer. Meaning that I didn't have any training or even education when I first began. I learned through experience and trial and error. Because of that, I believe it took me a lot longer to get my business off the ground, and that is probably one of my biggest regrets when I was first starting out. I know if I had invested in education as a beginner, it would have not taken me so long to get my business to where it is now, but it was a journey, and I enjoyed the growth process. 6 years ago, I made the switch to exclusively photograph weddings, and that was one of the best decisions I have made for my business. I will talk about this in a podcast down the road because I have a lot to say about that. I absolutely love photographing weddings. However, 3 years ago I was at a place in my business that I had to make a tough decision. I was shooting 35 weddings a year, and still trying to do everything on my own. Be a good wife, mom, involved in our ministry, and it was not working. I couldn't keep up. I was drowning in work, and that was even with pulling many all-nighters just to stay afloat. I decided that I didn't want to work like that anymore. I believe in working hard and hustling, but I think it is about balance. I had a very unhealthy balance when it came to working. I knew something had to change. Instead of giving up my business, I decided to hire a team and begin to outsource some work. Looking back, I don't think I would have survived another year of business had I not done this. I am now a huge believer in the fact that you can't do everything. I had to get some help. I'm now at the place in my business where I'm making more than I have ever made, but I'm also working less than I have ever worked. I want each of you to have that same kind of freedom. There will be three decisions that you have to make in your business when you get to the place I was three years ago. You can quit altogether You can raise your prices significantly, and book way fewer clients Or you can delegate, get some things off of you, and share some of the responsibility. If you continue on in your business when you get to that place, you will eventually burn out, and lose all of the joy of photography....
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29 min
Oct 7 202025 min