Five Years of KNP!

The Business

April 25, 2016

Over the weekend I celebrated a HUGE milestone! Saturday marked the five year anniversary of KNP. Five years ago Saturday I was shooting my very first wedding! It was the day of my bridal shower and the wedding was a small celebration for a couple of our friends who were kind enough to trust me to photograph their ceremony. After their wedding I went on to shoot three others that first year, which led me to shooting 17 the next, 27 the year after that, then between 23-25 the next few years! Looking back on the past five years it feels like time has gone by both in the blink of an eye, yet also slowly. Time can be so tricky sometimes like that!

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Five years ago my business was just me, a little Canon Rebel I purchased from Craigslist, and a dream of one day having a career doing something I loved. I could barely afford that camera and it wasn’t even close to a professional level camera, but I worked it as best as I could. Back then, we were living paycheck to paycheck, I was working a job that I didn’t love, and we were pouring any extra money we had into our wedding. In those days, I woke up every day wondering what the heck I was going to do with my life. I wanted a career. I wanted to be doing something I was passionate about, that would give me purpose. Five years ago I was about to marry my best friend. And though I didn’t know it at the time, I was about to embark on what’s become one of the biggest and best adventures of my life so far.

So much of what has happened since I shot my first wedding has been trial and error. It’s been learning as I went, faking it til I could make it, renting lenses, breaking bones, staying up late worried about finances, crying happy tears when I booked something awesome, met a goal, or had some other awesome win. It’s been crying sad or scared tears when I felt rejected by potential clients who we really clicked with booked someone else, or when I felt afraid I wouldn’t meet my goal for the year. It’s been late nights, early mornings, naps in the middle of the day (because, self employment). It’s been donuts shared with clients, champagne with fellow vendor friends. It’s been laughing til my sides hurt, and scarfing down vendor meals in mere minutes before toasts start happening.

One of the things I’ve heard fairly often about small businesses is that sadly, most of them don’t make it to five years. So celebrating the five year anniversary of my own little business feels like a huge deal! Over the past five years I’ve made mistakes, I’ve learned a million lessons, and I’ve made lifelong friends. Starting my business changed my life and I’ll always be so glad that I got to do all of this.

Thank you so much to everyone who’s supported me and the business for the past five years! Especially to the people who believed in me before they really had any reason to. I am so thankful to have been a part of your story!

Here’s to the last five years…and to the next five…plus all of the adventures that lay ahead 😉

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