I am taking a well deserved break from the business of photography. I have struggled with this idea for the past year and a half and have come to terms with it this year. The weight has been lifted and I feel I can finally live my day to day existence with clairity and lightness. Running a business from home is wonderful and empowering but somewhere along the way, my young family grew and became busier then I could have ever imagined and the demands of the business were overwhelming to put a healthy balance between the two. They need me more then the time I could give them trying to run the business, even on a part time basis. I don't want this time to look back on to be full of regrets.
The reality is part time equates to full time in this industry if I wanted to even get a small amount of business to just keep afloat at this stage in my business, with all the cost of product and equipment, training and time. Despite what many think about this business, it is more then just a push of the shutter button and burning a disc and fun times. Although it is a labour of love, the time spent on email and phone correspondence, continual learning, cost of equipment for cameras, lenses, computers and computer programs, advertising, website, processing orders, mailing, time, etc...it all ads up. I will miss it but for the time being am thoroughly enjoying my role as a mom and wife to a preschooler and kindegartener. I am also exploring my options this year and just might find myself going down a new and uncharted path in my life altogether. I am a firm believer in life having many wonderful chapters and avenues to explore and that once one door closes, another window or door of opportunity will open. Photography will always be there for me but for the moment, it will be for me and my family and a very limited amount of sessions over the next year. I will hopefully stop by this blog from time to time and post random and beautiful moments I have captured to keep up with my love of photography, which is a constant in my life anyway. I want to thank everyone who was a part of my photography experience over the past two years. It was great to meet new families and their little ones. This part I will really miss.
Next year promises more time for me and I may revisit and re-evaluate the overall business to suit my availability. With more time for me to cope with the obstacles and stresses that probably wouldn't be there in the first place if I had uninterrupted time. My photography business was started, afterall, to be able to stay at home with my girls while they were young, not make money to send them away from me at a daycare. I am not sure I am ready for my little ones to be in school full time yet :(. Such a conflicted feeling just thinking of it even though it is not for another year. There are so many days or moments where I fight with the idea of wanting some more time to myself to be able to see this business bloom, but then relish in the fact that this stage of my family is so fleeting and I will miss it very much.
Next year promises more time for me and I may revisit and re-evaluate the overall business to suit my availability. With more time for me to cope with the obstacles and stresses that probably wouldn't be there in the first place if I had uninterrupted time. My photography business was started, afterall, to be able to stay at home with my girls while they were young, not make money to send them away from me at a daycare. I am not sure I am ready for my little ones to be in school full time yet :(. Such a conflicted feeling just thinking of it even though it is not for another year. There are so many days or moments where I fight with the idea of wanting some more time to myself to be able to see this business bloom, but then relish in the fact that this stage of my family is so fleeting and I will miss it very much.
1 comment:
I wish you all the best Amber. You will be missed, but hope to see you back at some point!
xoxo
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