Self Employment Update

Business

August 15, 2013

It’s been over a year since I left my full time job, and I don’t even count the months anymore (if I did, it would be 14!). The fears that overwhelmed me at the beginning of the journey haven’t really left me. If anything, that’s actually a good thing…because it’s pushed me to always be working as hard as I can…to bring in leads, to take care of my clients, etc. The negative aspect of this is that somewhere along the way I realized that I lost the joy that photography once brought me. Making sure that all of my clients have the same, consistent experience, and taking care of so many business tasks during the week took over my life. Going to the Turning Tides retreat last week taught me more than anything that what I’m missing right now has so much to do with the artist inside of me!

As I continue to book for 2014 and move forward making changes with my business, I never want to rest. I never want to stop fighting and pushing and striving for that next big goal…but I do want to take a little more time to make more creative goals for myself. After hearing Trish talk about her personal project documenting the chaos that is motherhood, she inspired me to start a personal project of my own. She and I talked about how we both believe that you’re influenced a lot by where you are in your life at a certain time…and right now I’m in the thick of being a wife, a role I love dearly. The thing about wife-hood though, s that it’s so much more than I ever thought it would be! It’s more intense, more amazing, more tricky…and the list goes on and on. So my to do list may be a mile long, but I’m adding something else to it that will bring me joy and fill me up and ultimately make me a better photographer! I want to create a small series of images that I feel capture what it’s like to be married. This project is definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I’m excited to get started and start creating something for myself.

Some other updates:

– Working on the couch has been a good thing and a bad thing….I decided that to get things done sometimes I can’t sit on the couch anymore:( It’s too easy for me to lose stretches of time watching TV or checking social media. I can still edit on the couch though, as long as I’m watching something mindless.

– Thanks to Christy’s brilliant idea, I’m going to start taking a legitimate lunch break away from my computer! I think this will help me be more productive.

– I finally caved and started setting up Pixifi, a studio management tool. Pixifi is cool because you can create contracts, invoices, questionnaires, and more for your clients and it stores all that info in one place! The awesome thing about that is that my client info will be at my fingertips no matter where I go…and with a business that travels as much as mine does, I think that’s really important. Pixifi has been a beast to get set up so far, but I’m hoping it will be a big help once I have it up and running!

– I’m trying to separate myself from my business a little more so that I can actually feel like I have a little bit of a life…so I deleted all of the social media apps (except instagram…I’m too addicted!!) from my phone. I don’t need to be up late at night on Facebook, Twitter, etc. So far it feels good to not be chained to constantly checking status updates all day and night!

– Amanda and I are settling into our Marry & Bright roles and starting to hit our own stride as we get closer and closer to launch date (AUG 26!!!). I’m so happy to have someone I love so much as my business partner! It’s definitely been a learning experience to try and learn to juggle two businesses and to learn to run one with another person after running mine solo for so long, but I’m happy to say that we are settling into our roles, and I think that our friendship has actually gotten stronger!

Speaking of Amanda, she and I were featured yesterday on one of my favorite wedding blogs, 100 Layer Cake! My own wedding was featured on this blog two years ago so it’s really cool to see my own work there!! Can’t wait to share the rest of this amazing shoot with you guys tomorrow! Amanda really outdid herself on all of the pretty details!!

Katie Nesbitt Photography and Into It Events Feature on 100 Layer Cake Wedding Blog_0118

Well, that’s about it for this self employment update! See you guys again tomorrow! Same place, same (ish) time!

Leave a Comment

  1. congratulations on your feature!

  2. Love love love! So much progress and intentional steps to live a happier more balanced life… Yay! I like the idea about deleting social media apps from your phone… I turned all my alerts off so they’re still there, but just not beeping at me all day. I may try the delete completely though.

  3. Love that blog, what an exciting day!!!!

  4. Emilia Jane says:

    I took all the apps off of my phone at one point too and it totally helped! Keep us updated on how you like pixifi, I have shootq, but still need to set it up!

  5. Brea says:

    Congrats on your feature and I love the little self employment update. It feels good to publicly check in every once in a while.

  6. Laura says:

    So exciting, congrats!

  7. Dani says:

    I gave up social media on my phone for lent and it was amazing to experience how free it was. After a recent issue, I decided that after a certain hour of the day I want to no longer check my email on my phone. I shouldn’t have to worry about things far into the night when I should be spending time with my husband. Being able to turn it all off and have me time is one of the hardest things I struggle with. I am super proud of you for being able to create some of that separation and know that I am right there with you with struggling to find the joy in my work sometimes. As we all are probably.

  8. #1) So proud of you guys for that feature!
    #2) I think giving up social media on your phone is a great idea, one maybe I’ll be brave enough to try one day!
    #3) I’m curious about Pixifi, that sounds like a great business investment that will really help with organization and workflow. Maybe you could blog about it sometime? 🙂

  9. What a beautiful feature! Congrats on the whole 14 months! Such a beautiful change. I can’t wait to see the new blog roll out too!

  10. Oooh, girl- I love you so much! So proud of you for always pushing yourself to do AMAZING things! I can’t wait to read more of your special project and SEE more of the things you’re pushing yourself to do! xoxoxox

  11. Jennifer says:

    Congrats on a great first year…errr…14 months!

  12. That is awesome that you are able to keep your business up and going! Pixifi is a life saver, however, I am trying to utilize it better. Goal is for me to run by business, not my business run me.

  13. Sasha reiko says:

    How has pixifi been working for you? Has it made your life easier?

    • Katie Nesbitt says:

      Pixifi is amazing! It’s definitely been making things easier for me this year! I’m hoping to blog about it soon!

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