I use the term “entrepreneur” loosely as I am still finding my way, but for the purpose of this blog post, it fits best. I quite my job in 2014 to stay at home with my daughter. It took me a new baby and a solid 3 years to accept the fact that I was no longer contributing to the family financially. It took me even longer to accept the fact that I do contribute to the family even if not financially. Maybe that was my motivation behind my attempts as a family photographer, personal stylist, blogger, influencer. I also have a certain level of drive, one that is motivated by a desire for money and a desire for recognition. Though I was busy being a new mom, I also wanted to find a new path for myself as a small business owner, much like my husband had done. Growing up, I only wanted to be a dancer. I never had any other hopes and dreams. I went to college to receive my BFA in Performance and Choreography at Columbia College with the hopes that I would move to NY and dance as a career. After a stint in rehab and having to start my life over as a sober person at the age of 20, that dream ended. From that moment on, I have never been clear on what I wanted to do with my life. I went to a new college, got a degree in Spanish because that seemed like the right thing to do, and ended working as an executive recruiter because that was the only job I found. I was very successful at that job and worked there for 9 years, but my weeks were generally 50 hour weeks and after having my daughter, I found that didn’t work any more. So I quit to stay at home.
this was obviously pre-photography days
A couple of lessons I’ve learned as a stay at home mom:
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I add a tremendous amount of value to my family – even if it doesn’t bring in money
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I do need a creative outlet because life as a mom can be lonely – photography has been one of the most important ways to keep in touch with myself
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I don’t have to turn every interest into a job. I am allowed to enjoy things in life without trying to make money at it.
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In spite of what others say, it is okay to have multiple interests and vacillate between them – it doesn’t make you flaky, there are personality types who thrive in this way
So why am I writing this now? I contemplated whether or not I wanted to start this blog again because I wonder if people even read blogs anymore??? Do they? I don’t. The honest truth is that I think a podcast or YouTube channel would be an overcommitment on my part as I want to have time to actually teach, so this is the lowest point to entry. I am also hesitant as I fear that I will run out of ideas. The constant need to create content for social media to drive you to your website, then content for your website, and content for your newsletter, oh yeah, and content for the Click Community feels like it could all be too much. One thing I have realized as a creative person is that the more I practice creating things, the more the ideas for creativity come so I think having an abundance mindset about this will prove to be helpful and so here I am, taking the first step. I have an idea of creating a newsletter with challenges for the photographer and creative and I am really excited about it. I want to post more things here on the blog to help the creative as well. And so, I am entering this new phase of my attempts of being an entrepreneur, this time my sights set on teaching. I worry about consistency and my tendency to forget things. I worry that I will spend a lot of time writing these things and no one will read them. But I am choosing to view this as a creative outlet, just as photography has been, and so even if my blog posts never get read, there is some healing aspect to it all that I need. That helps me trust the process and to sit down and show up.
This is my, probably way too honest, introduction to my plans for 2022. My goal is to teach photography and ultimately, even teach a broader audience about creativity. If you are interested in working with me directly, I offer one on one mentoring to help guide one through their development as a photographer. In my mentoring sessions, I will offer bimonthly zoom calls, weekly journal prompts, and personalized challenges to help you grow. This can be more personalized so each person will require different things, depending upon where you are. I am starting a newsletter in 2022 and each one will have a monthly theme. The theme will include a journal prompt as well as a photo challenge as well as book, podcast, workshop recommendations. And that’s as far as I have gotten. I am pretty excited about all of the ideas coming to me and I think all of my practice as a yogi has helped me grow in terms of getting organized and being consistent. 2022 will be a new challenge for me and I hope at least 10 of you will read my blog!
if you want to be added to my newsletter, please send me your email via my contact form. (I am adding my newsletter option back to my page, but haven’t done it yet).
