We all know that feeling…that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you look at the clock and realize that Sunday is almost over and Monday’s arrival is imminent. Most of us have experienced that at least at some point in our lives, some of us may still be feeling that. When I think about the kind of life I want to live, I’ve realized that when it comes to my career, one thing that’s really important to me is never again feeling that sense of dread when it comes to Monday mornings.

I used to feel that way…about Tuesdays, at least. I worked four 10 hour days at my day job and Monday was actually my day off, so Tuesdays were essentially my “Monday”. My job wasn’t my favorite thing, which was probably pretty obvious from the lack of passion I put into my work. Instead of taking pride and enjoyment in what I did every day, I lived for the weekends, which were a time when I could do things that really mattered to me, like growing my photography business or spending time with John and Lucy.

It was a huge, HUGE leap of faith for me to leave my day job to pursue running my business full time. I had very little saved up and not much was guaranteed, including whether or not I would continue to book weddings or be able to raise my pricing to a point where I could sustain the business. The only thing I really had to go on was my passion for the business, my desire to see it succeed, and my desperation to change my life into something where I could stop living for the weekends and actually find meaning and purpose on a day to day basis.

Five years ago I was only 13 months past photographing my first wedding and was living paycheck to paycheck. I’d shot 7 or 8 weddings and I was still renting almost every single piece of gear I needed to photograph a wedding day. Everything logical said it wasn’t the right time to quit, but somewhere inside of me I knew that it was where my heart was taking me. Though there have been times where it’s been hard, I wouldn’t change a thing about the past five years. This has been the most rewarding, exciting adventure of my life, and I’m so glad I get to have this amazing career!!

Sitting here today I still remember that feeling in the pit of my stomach…that feeling of a whole lot of fear and excitement mixed with a whole lot of YOLO. I don’t want to ever forget that feeling, that drive to succeed no matter what.

If you are reading this and we have worked together, or you have supported my business, helped me grow, referred business to me, mentored me, second (or third) shot for me, or in any way influenced my business over the past few years, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for letting me be able to do this and helping me support my little family 🙂