We have a little throwback for you on our blog today for #TBT. I stumbled across this gem from our very first wedding that we photographed together in 2011.
We had just gotten married in November 2010. We started the business in our first home together as husband & wife a few months later. We had lofty dreams and goals for our business, but we had no idea that it would all come together for us so quickly. We’re delighted to say that since that day, we’ve photographed 58 weddings together, have both quit our full-time jobs, and are now pursuing this dream of being small business owners full-time together. This hasn’t been easy. We’ve given up a lot of our free time in order to build our business while we both worked full-time. At his IT position, Josh worked 50 hours per week. As an attorney, I worked anywhere from 40 hours per week to 60 hours per week. On top of those hours, we shot weddings, engagement sessions, and portrait sessions- usually editing photos, building our website, reading business & marketing books, learning how to price our services to make a profit, honing our craft, marketing to brides, networking with wedding vendors, and investing time into our wedding clients who had the faith in us to book us early on in our business until 12:00 or 1:00 a.m. We couldn’t have done this without each other. I feel like I can conquer the world with one hand as long as I’m holding Josh’s hand with the other. Individually, we’re all right. 😉 But together. . . TOGETHER is where it’s at for us!
If you’re just starting a small business & you’re frazzled, stressed, sleep-deprived, uncertain, excited, overwhelmed, happy, optimistic, and full of hope- we know exactly how you feel! Our advice that we have for you is to keep on pursuing your dreams and make sacrifices to achieve them. Ask experts for advice, seek out mentors who have built successful businesses & are still happy in their family lives, read lots of business books, educate yourself NON-STOP, and stay positive! You’ll make mistakes, but you’ll learn from them & you’ll grow as long as you keep the correct attitude.
Looking at this photo of us from our very first wedding we ever photographed together, I notice one thing in particular- our genuine happiness. That happiness has continued to grow as we’ve gotten to meet & work with the most amazing & in love couples over the past few years. Their happiness & joy radiates from them on their wedding days & we pray that our happiness for them & our love for one another has influenced them positively & has impacted their wedding days (AND THEIR MARRIAGES!) for the best.
Each wedding day is unique, but one constant remains for us- we absolutely LOVE what we do, feel blessed to be making a living creating art for couples that will last a lifetime, and are completely & totally blown away with JOY that we get to work together every day! Â Although almost three years have passed since that day, we hope that we haven’t changed much (other than our much more comfortable camera straps & slightly dressier digs), but if we have a few more wrinkles, we know they’re from smiling, laughing, and enjoying life. 😀
[Photo Credit: Nathan & Amanda Photography]
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