School's Out for Summer.....HELP!
Recently my life has been taken over, in a good way, with newborn photo shoots, family photo shoots, toddler photo shoots, maternity photo shoots, outdoor photo shoots, a mass of image editing and marketing. I’ve really enjoyed it, it’s been such an exciting time for me. Being a photographer in my local area of Mansfield, Sutton in Ashfield & Kirkby in Ashfield is a pleasure. I love meeting new families every day - and I’m proud to say I’m a Nottinghamshire photographer.
However, I am writing this on my very last child free day for the next 6 weeks! As a former primary school teacher, it’s right about now in mid July when I’d usually be super giddy counting down the days/hours/minutes until I could run out of school at 3.16pm, turn my music up loud and speed off into the afternoon sun for 6 weeks of pure and utter relaxation!
Right now though, I couldn’t be any further from that...my 2 little children are off Nursery for the next 6 weeks and they’re going to be at home with me. I’m nervous! In a good way! (Kind of).
When I started my photography business, working from home, the whole point was for a better work life balance! I do have a better life, it’s still not balanced but I work when I want, however hard I want and funnily enough…the harder I work the luckier I get!!!!
Author: Unknown
But this is exactly why I’m nervous, I’ve worked so hard over the past few months building my photography business from a temporary set up in my living room with only my ‘friends who felt sorry for me’ as clients, to creating a solid and continuously growing local client base in my super duper home studio. I’ve learnt so much every. single. day! And that’s been by doing it, practicing and getting stuck in!
Over the next few weeks I’m not going to be able to do that. I won’t actually be able to do much at all. I have a 2 year old daughter and a 1 year old son.. I’m going to be lucky to make it out of the first week alive! Nah I’m only joking, but seriously having the kids at home, instead of at nursery for their normal 3 days a week, is going to be quite a challenge. Not because I don’t want to spend time with them - because I do, I adore them and enjoy days in the garden with them and actually as much as I sometimes exaggerate, they are really good kids. But as any parent would know, you can’t go 2 waking minutes without a shout of “Mummy I need a poo” or one of them crying because the other stole their favourite piece from their mega blocks tower!
So….what am I nervous about?! Getting the laundry pile down? Ahem, no - its never down...enough said! Making sure I get me time? Nope. I don’t get that anyway!
It’s my business. I’m worried that all the hard work I’ve done to get to where I am will be somehow wasted if I cannot keep up the pace and energy that I have the past few months. I know that I’m going to be itching every day to get in to my studio to edit photos, update my website, answer emails, clear my desktop etc etc. And not just that - I can’t do photo shoots with the kids about, so I will likely loose out on a lot of potential income. On top of this I’ve only gone and signed up to my local gym (seriously I think I’m purposely trying to kill myself!)
The plan so far
Well first of all I’m going to have to manage what little amount of time I get well. I’m still not great at time management, I’m just about getting used to my work load - but here are some things me and Dave (my hubby) have discussed.
I will continue to work in the evening’s, except I will start a little earlier than usual. Dave will put the kids to bed and I will go into my studio for a few of hours - probably with a glass of wine (or maybe a bottle).
I will continue with photo shoots at weekends and occasionally in the evenings. I am pretty much booked up on weekends between now and the end of next month so I have plenty to keep me busy.
I will extend my turnaround time for editing.
I will continue to check my emails daily, but I won’t reply to any messages until the evenings once the kids are in bed.
I will continue to update my facebook and instagram pages, maybe not as often as I have been but enough so all you lot don’t forget about me!
I will enjoy the time away from the crazy world of self employment and I will cherish the moments with my kids. After all that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. Everything I do is for them.
And last but by no means least, in the words of Gloria Gaynor….“I will survive”!
So please bear with me over the next few weeks. My turnaround time for editing is definitely going to increase as I just can’t work the hours I usually do. And if I take a little longer to reply to your messages please don’t think I am ignoring you. I will be checking all my inboxes on a daily basis and I will get back to you as soon as I possibly can.
So I’m going to stop worrying and instead I’m going to embrace the ‘break’. Not only do I get to spend some really good quality time with my children, I get to reset so hopefully when I’m back to work properly in September I’ll have some new ideas and even more passion!
Let me know how you cope with running a business over the school holidays? Do you lean on holiday clubs, childminders or relatives to help carry the load? Or do you work with the kids dangling from your earrings?
Even if you’re not running a business - seriously how do you cope? I need to know. How I can entertain 2 high energy, loud toddlers for 6 weeks or 42 days/1008 hours/60,480 minutes (not that I’m counting) - please comment below :-)
Thanks for reading!
I am a portrait photographer specialising in maternity, newborn, childhood and family photography. My home studio is based in Sutton in Ashfield near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire UK. If you would like to book a photoshoot or would like more information, get in touch here.