Ever wonder why people do what they do? I mean, why do people become florists or boutique owners. Why do people become bakers or nannies? Besides the obvious reason, money, why do people start their particular small businesses; what is their unique story, their “WHY?”
I recently took on a challenge to restructure my small business. If you don’t know me then let me explain: I started my own photography business last fall. It started out as such a success! I was amazed at the clientele I was accumulating and I was absolutely loving everything about it. After a busy fall season I took most of winter off with the high hopes I would just jump right back in at the beginning of the new year.
After Christmas I had all these ideas on how I was going to fill my photography calendar with unique bookings and returning clients. I wrote down ideas I had to build on my business and make it more functional and over all a better experience. I learned a lot over the last six months of my baby-business and I wanted to make sure I implemented all my new thoughts and ways of providing for my clients.
January came and went without a single booking. This is hard for me to put out there because in our world today we don’t want to show our weaknesses, especially as a business owner! We want the world to see that we are doing great! Now, let me take a step back. I realize that January is just after Christmas and all the big holidays, money may be tight as people are paying off bills from the celebrations and are not looking to spend any more money. I also realize that standing outside in the freezing cold to smile for a camera is not some peoples' idea of a fun time. I knew all of these truths and yet I still got bogged down in the fact that for an entire month I had no bookings.
No bookings made me think less clearly: “Am I good enough? There is too much competition here, how am I going to get more established? Am I charging too much? Am I charging too little?” I got stuck on a merry-go-round of questions and doubts that made me completely forget why I started my photography business in the first place!
My WHY
I give my husband full credit for starting this passion of mine. He would always question me on what my hobbies are or what my passion is. I never really knew the answers. I love being a military wife and a mom to my three littles, I really do, but my life was so busy with them that I never gave myself the time to figure out what I wanted for me. I never took the time to really think about what made my heart sing, what made me excited to learn and research and grow. My husband could see it before I really even thought it: I was getting lost in the wonderful chaos that was our military life with kids and I didn’t even know where to start to find myself again.
Now let me be very clear, when I say I give my husband full credit for starting this passion of mine, what I mean is God uses people and things in our lives every day to guide us. God used my husband to show me how I can use this passion of photography to bring Him glory and bless others and myself. As a military wife and a mother I know that this life can be a special kind of lonely and crazy! I know that the long days can quickly turn into long weeks of late nights for my soldier. I know what its like to single parent three very young kids and wonder if my patience will last any longer while I am putting the kids to bed on my own for the 5th time this week. I have been in the loneliness trenches just wanting a weekend where the phone doesn’t ring and take our precious family time away.
God used all these unique tid-bits of knowledge I have to show me that I can use my photography skills not only as a blessing for recharging my batteries and getting some me time, but to bless other military families who I know have these same struggles.
It has taken me sitting down and taking a breath to remember why I started my photography business, but I am getting myself back in the right mind set.
What is your WHY for doing what you do?
