This weekend is an incredibly special weekend for me! To give you a little background we’ll flash back to one year ago. A year ago, I was working a part-time position in sales and I was nowhere near in love with it. I wrestled with it for a few months, trying my best to stick it out for just a little bit longer. But, when I began to realize that I was no longer keeping up with my photography like I wanted to, I knew that I needed to do something.
One morning before leaving for work, I was having another talk with God about how I needed Him to provide a way for me, because I couldn’t keep going like this. I felt prompted to tally up how much I’d make with my photography that month, so I flipped open my calendar and did just that. It was comparable to what I’d be making with my part-time position, and the wave of relief and joy that flooded over me I will never forget. I had so much joy on the car ride to work that morning, and peace that God was in control.
Within a couple of weeks, I’d handed in my two-week notice and afterwards I felt so much peace.
In the months that followed, God never failed to provide. I was pursuing what I loved, what I felt called to do, and God was making ALL of it happen.
Tomorrow marks my one-year anniversary being a full-time business owner! This year has flown by so fast! It has been filled with so many life-giving moments that I never would have imagined experiencing in my wildest dreams. And, I’m so incredibly thankful.
Here are a few things I’ve learned + some of the highlights in my first year as a full-time business owner!
It Takes a Lot of Faith + Relying on God
Obviously there’s ups and downs when you run your own business. Photography has busy seasons and slow seasons, and I’ve learned to really trust God to continuously bring me work. I have to give a huge shout out to Nicole Balsamo for sharing doses of encouragement on her Instagram about this exact subject. A few months ago she shared how she was booked for days on end, and how the beginning of a month her calendar may look empty but by the time she’s reached the end of it nearly every day has been filled with something. When I asked her about it, she said that it was because of a lot of prayer and hard work. It made me realize that I needed to be more intentional about praying to God about sending work my way. So that’s what I started doing, and I can honestly say I’ve started seeing a huge difference!! Since praying more intentionally, I’ve been booking more sessions and I’m just in awe at how good God is.
Sometimes You Have to Create to Create
During the times when I didn’t have as much booked, I began to get restless and miss photographing sessions. In those times, I would find ways to fuel my creativity. I think it’s really important to continue creating what you enjoy because that will fuel and inspire you more. My personal philosophy is that you shouldn’t do anything for the money. You should do it because you enjoy + love it, and everything else will follow!
Slow Season is Good for Blogging
This winter I had extra time to work on behind-the-scenes projects, and for me that was a lot of writing for my blog. I knew that as soon as Spring hit, I wouldn’t have as much time to work on that so I took advantage of the time I had. Definitely glad that I did! Now, I’m photographing at least one session a week and wedding season is about to hit at the end of May, so the majority of my time is going to transfer towards editing. Having blog posts already in the queue is definitely helpful!
Highlights
- Booking my first destination wedding to NORWAY. You’ll see photos from our trip when we get back beginning of June!
- Taking the leap to begin offering boudoir. I did not expect the amount of support that I’ve received since announcing this new adventure, and that means the world.
- Booking 7 weddings (and counting!) for this year. And already booking 2019!
- Launching + growing a newsletter for photographers. It’s been so fulfilling to send tips + freebies to other photographers each week!
- Hosting mentoring sessions for other photographers. I began offering one-on-one mentoring last summer and it’s been so rewarding!!
- Taking the leap and hosting my first photography workshop!! It’s taking place in just a couple more weeks and I’m overwhelmed with gratitude.
- Every single person that I’ve been able to work with for photoshoots, weddings, and collaborations. You have all been so amazing.
There’s a lot to celebrate, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. God has been so good and I’m beyond grateful for everything this first year has brought me.
Thank you so much for supporting me in my photography + beyond, you mean the world to me!!
You can follow along with me on Instagram @JoelleElizabethPhotography for all of my recent adventures!
All images in this post were captured by Breanna Bell Photography. Love you, Bre!!
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I’d love to work together! You can send any inquiries for portraits + weddings to JoelleElizabethPhotography@gmail.com. Thank you!
[…] I just celebrated one year of being a full-time business owner and so much has happened. It’s kind of unbelievable to me. If you’re interested in reading about what I’ve learned and some of the highlights, you can read about that in this post on my photography blog. […]
[…] And on April 21, I’ll celebrate year two! But really, this was such a huge milestone for me – being able to go full-time within months of graduating college, and stay full-time ever since has been one of the biggest blessings. I wrote a post about the things I learned in my first year going full-time here. […]