I want to take a moment to address some growing pains that I have been experiencing. As most of you know I work another job with my husbands company, and have 3 kids. The photography business is my love, my passion and career path of choice (after my kiddos and hubby of course). But I never expected for the business to grow as fast as it has, and I have been experiencing some glitches along the way. There are not any “how to run a photog biz” books out there, especially one on how to do it with another full time job and 3 kids :). So I have had to research, adjust, change, and add on to this business on almost a daily basis. And that is fine, but with that, comes hiccups. You throw in the fact that my hubby’s business has also boomed this year, 3 kiddos that just started school, two of which just got the mystery bug, weather Gods that have chosen to be cloudy or rainy on 75% of my sessions and you have a woman pulled in multiple directions. I am not complaining. I don’t like to do that. But I do want you, my wonderful clients and friends, to be aware that I am aware. I know that I have been late on proofing some sessions, I don’t get to emails as fast as I should, and the phone calls are not immediate. All of these things are on my mind at all times. And I am sorry for that, and very very grateful for the amazing amount of patience you all have had. I am eternally grateful.
So with growing pains, comes growth and improvement. We have hired an employee to start to do my work for my husbands business. This will take some training time, but hopefully before we know it, I will be phased out…whoo hoo! I am working on the new studio which will give me more focused and distraction free time to work and meet with my clients. I am also putting it together so it is VERY organized. I am possibly even bringing on an employee to help me with the office work ( so if you know anyone that is insanely organized and wants some part time work…let me know). I have also started working with new software that is WAY faster and really helping me out.
My goals by the end of the year.
-Less than 1 week turn around on session proofs (yes, you read that correctly, not the sneak peeks, but the actual proofs).
-Proofing sessions in my new studio. This way you can actually see the items that you are purchasing and we can view the images side by side on my big calibrated monitor.
-More literature to help you with preparing for your sessions. I do want to let you know, I am totally for being as green as possible. I am not a nut, but I do prefer digital over paper if possible. So most of this will be digital files.
-Faster, better, and more informative customer service. Emails will be returned faster, more phone calls will be made and scheduled, and print turn around will be much faster.
- Happier me and you!
So again, I thank you my darling clients for you generous patience and understanding! I do love what I do, I love my busy hectic life, but it is time to evaluate, organize and deligate. This mommy just can’t do it all anymore! I am very excited and very eager for the things to come. And I just know that 2009 is going to be an amazing year. You all are wonderful!
Here is an image I took out in the fields during a session (I think we were waiting for a cloud to pass). It calms me… enjoy.
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