If you're like me, you have two favorite jobs in the whole world. They're filled with emotion. They can be rewarding, yet incredibly stressful at the same time. And there's no exact handbook on how to do either perfectly. For me, it's photography and being a mama. I'm here to help you with three of my top tips for rocking both of these incredible jobs.
- Set up an environment for mom you and photographer you to succeed
Most likely you're running your business from your home. I recommend photographers operate out of their home until you know how to consistently attract clients and you understand where the profit comes in in a business. You might be thinking, OMG my house is a wreck, kids and toys, and school papers have overtaken every surface. I get it. I had three kids and the sports gear clothes and school papers were out of control. This is why it's important to set up a dedicated area for photographer you to work.
- Be all in but one at a time
Have you ever tried to multitask work and family at the same time? You know this isn't a good use of your time and you're unable to put your best effort toward either. It leaves you feeling burnt out and like a failure. The key here is to be purposeful with how you spend your time. At the beginning of the week, look at your family's calendar and your work calendar and set your office hours for the week. If you know drop-off swim lessons are at 10 a.m., maybe even talk to another parent about carpooling and making it a kid trade. This can give you a few good solid hours to edit that session you did last week. Make a success plan and then it happens. Not always gonna be perfect, but if you don't plan, it's just not gonna happen.
- Set aside time to transition from work mode to mom mode
This was the one that I struggled with. Take the first five minutes of your work time to listen to a song or meditation that gets you from whatever sort of state you were in to where you need to be in the state that you're shifting to. If you're dealing with some particularly frustrating edits or you had a phone call that was frustrating or you're learning new settings in Lightroom that don't come easily to you. Just realize that and make the conscious decision that you're not going to take that frustration home with me to mom mode. We've all done that where we take that frustration into a room of happy people and we just completely disrupt the apple cart. So what I learned to do was turn off the computer, I put my list away, I would tidy my office because a cluttered space makes for more discontent. You can make a little gratitude list and listen to a feel-good song. Bring that feeling of accomplishment and joy with you into your mom or your dad or your auntie mode.
The main takeaway I hope you got today is that being prepared and respecting your photography business will do so much toward helping you feel like you actually are rocking this parent thing and this business owner and relationship thing.
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