Just as a heads up, there won’t be a heck of a lot of photos in this, and it’s super personal (albeit a bit rambling).
I have always thought that every person has a thing that they’re supposed to do with their lives. Some people are born knowing their thing- my sister wanted to be a nurse. She’s a nurse. My friends wanted to be teachers- they are. Some people wanted to be parents. Josh’s thing was abstract- “be successful” and for him, a goal he reached in 2015. He knew the path to get there- MIS degree, master’s degree, busting his ass working, getting the right promotion. And that’s it. He hit his thing.
The only thing I ever wanted, was to be famous. That’s it. And that’s not even a real thing. It’s not like that’s something you can attain with hard work, degrees, know-how. It’s just, not.a.thing. But it was MY thing. And here I am, staring down the barrel of 40, with nothing. Literally. No. Thing. I mean, I have wendy b photos (WBP), but is that my thing? I don’t know. It feels like it, right?
I own a business and I would love to grow it. Photography is great, and I love it, and I’m lucky I get to do it. There are a billion things I’d love to do with WBP, I have a head full of ideas, a notebook full of amazing clients, and an Amazon wishlist a mile long 😉
There is so much I want to do in the photography world. I want to take more babies, milestones and sitters. I want to make use of studio space and offer MORE for the community. I’d love to teach photography basics! But all I hear, in the back of my mind, is HOW. HOW can I do these things, when the market grows smaller and smaller all the time? HOW can I reach people, when social media actively works against me? HOW can I bring in more referrals, when I know so many of my clients already are doing so much for me HOW can I rent studio space, not knowing if I can make ends meet? HOW DO I DO THIS? (for real though, how?)
All of these thoughts about my “thing” have been sitting in my brain recently and really taking up a lot of space because I was offered a job. A few weeks ago, I uploaded a resume to a job site. Since I have basically no work experience outside of WBP in the last nine years, I did not expect to see any action. I uploaded and sent “apply” to one job on a Saturday. I thought, you know what- just throw a resume out there. If nothing happens, it’s fine. Spring will be here and I want to do styled sessions and find a way to do glitter/ shimmer sessions, and then summer will be here and I want to shoot warm light, and then it’s fall and crazy time again. Apply for something, do something scary. So I did. And they called. I interviewed unsure of what I would do, if I was offered the job because interview practice is always good. A few weeks later I was made an offer. And that shocked the blessed crap out of me.
I had already made a commitment to something else in the weeks it took to hear back from the job. The thought of trying to find someone to help care for the girls over the summer was overwhelming. And every penny I made, would go right back out the door over the summer for child care. And I technically don’t NEED to work, WBP does fine for me. So, there were a lot of scary things screaming in my face. I sent out the SOS to my dearest friends who answered in lightening fashion and set my mind at ease. A, M, and T- free photos this summer 😉 My husband is working on being home more to help with the summer as well, and I’m trying to learn as much as I can about summer care for them.
I accepted. Is this job my thing? No, probably not. But it’ll give my mind something else to do rather than focus on and feel drown by all the HOW, and you never know what relationships you can build with new opportunities! I feel ready for the coming learning experience, and excited to add this work to my life. I feel, normal. Today after I make the girls their lunch and give them hugs and kisses before school, I’m going to put on real clothes, and go to work for a few hours outside of my home office, like a regular person. And that is super exciting to me. If you have a thing, I hope you’re living it. If you’ve not- I hope you enjoy the journey.
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