Hello lovelies!
So excited to share something a little different with you guys today- Truthy Tuesday! What is Truthy Tuesday you ask? Well I wanted to shed a little more light on things behind the scenes here, so i thought what better way than to blog about it :) My hope is to have this as a recurring feature where I get to share a little more of the personal side of DFinney Photography.
Today I’d like to talk a bit about being a [young] business owner.
Last week I was privileged to have a Creative Spotlight feature on Sabra Morris Media’s blog and the response was amazing! I’m always appreciative of the positive feedback when people hear my story. “That’s so awesome! It must be great being able to do what you love!” I hear variations of that sentiment often, and you know what? It is pretty great being able to do what I love… but it’s also not so great sometimes too.
Like when you have to turn down social events because of work, or when you’re thinking about all the things you have to do when you’re finally AT a social event, or having your friends mess with you about “always working”… Let me just say this: I would LOVE to not have to work or think about work all the time! Who wouldn’t? Lol. The fact that I also love my job doesn’t make it any less of a job. In fact, because I have my own business makes it even MORE of a job. Jobs that end when you clock out assuredly have their pros and cons, much like being an entrepreneur does… but the pros and cons differ greatly.
In exchange for the freedom having my own business brings, comes the responsibility of caring for EVERYTHING. Taking photos of course, location scouting, inspiration gathering, photo retouching, client correspondence, social media interaction, marketing ideas and implementation, designing the blog, websites, business cards, flyers, info guides, managing finances, continuing to improve my craft with workshops, blogs, etc… not to mention the countless other things that I’m probably forgetting. Yes, not all small business owners have to do everything themselves, but they sure do starting out! This is just year 4 for me and while it would be nice, money is not flowing freely enough for me to hire a staff lol. I do have an intern now who helps with some things, but a lot I still need to do myself… and that equals “always working” which is not something a 20something wants to be doing all the time.
I guess I say all that to say that while things may look “easy”, they are far from it. BUT I do still very much love my job and I’m incredibly thankful for my beautiful clients, friends and family for their support over these past 4 years. I know it’s hard to completely understand without truly knowing what’s going on behind the scenes, so here’s a little peek at it from my standpoint :)
I have to stop myself here because I could write on this topic all day, but I’ll save some for the next installment of Truthy Tuesday lol. Let me know what you thought of this one!
‘Til next time
-Danni
Photos by The Captured Life Photography
