Day 1324 – How Do You Practice For A Newborn Shoot?

Posted on February 22, 2013 by 365 days of marriage

You get your hubby to pretend that a teddy bear is a baby of course! Now, Bret, how do you feel about this??

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You don’t mind?? Awesome!!

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Teddy bear or not, how cute it this???

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I think Bret has gotten over his, um, dislike, of being in front of the camera. 😉

Day 1321 – I Did Something Today For The First Time In My 3009 Days In Business

Posted on February 21, 2013 by 365 days of marriage

First, I am SO mad at myself for missing my 3000 days in business day! (It was last Tuesday by the way!) Dang!

As you may remember, I got a fantastic book, EntreLeadership, back in December. It’s one of those books that you start to read and know it will change your life. A book that is so good you don’t want to read more than a few pages a day because you don’t want it to end! Well, I’ve had it on the shelf for a little while since it’s been so busy. I’ve finally started to read it again. It’s helped me with another goal…giving myself time to dream about my business every day. No distractions. I exit email and Facebook. I turn off all notifications. (Mostly because I’m sitting at my desk while doing this!) This book has helped me transition nicely. Especially recently since it has been talking about dreaming and vision!

Today, the topic was on mission statements. The author, Dave Ramsey, originally had somewhat of the same sentiments as I do about mission statements…that they’re just fluff words and don’t really have an impact on a business. Then he shared how having a mission statement can give your business direction. It helps you to say yes or no to opportunities. It helps your employees feel that they have purpose.

Here’s his mission statement:
“The Lampo Group, Inc., is providing biblically based, commonsense education and empowerment which gives HOPE to everyone from the financially secure to the financially distressed.”

He goes on to say “We capitalize and italicize HOPE because that is the core goal of everything we do. When you are in shipping and ship one of my books, you did not ship a book, you shipped HOPE to a family wanting to get out of debt or become a future EntreLeader.” Dave Ramsey in EntreLeadership.

There was a worksheet to help you figure out your mission statement. So, this is my first go at it…

“My mission is to keep Christ at the center of my business and to use my photography skills to capture every bride and groom’s wedding day to the best of my ability. I will strive to provide images that reflect who they are as a couple, by themselves as well as with their friends and family. To fulfill this mission, I will take the time to grow a genuine friendship with each couple. I will strive to learn and apply as much as I can by increasing my knowledge of God’s word, photography, business skills and social skills. I will strive for life long, loving friendships with my clients. In every photograph and in every client, I will seek to find God’s glory, to see the very best in everyone I encounter and to perform all tasks with overwhelming joy.”

When I’m faced with a tough situation, I can think “How would Christ want me to respond?” I can remember that my hope is in him and not my circumstances.
When I’m photographing the bride and groom portraits, I’m not just taking a picture, I’m striving to “provide images that reflect who they are as a couple.”
When I’m putting together client folders, I’m doing it with joy.

What do you think? Does this mission statement reflect what I do?

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Day 1299 – The Hardest Thing I’ve Had To Overcome Working For Myself

Posted on January 30, 2013 by 365 days of marriage

My whole working career, whether photography or 9-5 jobs, I have worked extremely hard. I feel like it’s a bad day if I haven’t put out 110%. Heck, I even worked through mono. I don’t know how…no, I do…after trying all kinds of over the counter stuff for a cold (which is what I thought I had)…I realized the only thing that “worked” was Mountain Dew. Knowing what I know now, that was probably the WORST thing I could have had. Anyways, I had been programed that you couldn’t miss work. I have only ever called out of work 2-3 times in the 14 years I worked for others, and those were dire circumstances. I was programed that you HAD to get up super early for work.

And this is how it was for several months working from home. I would be so hard on myself if I slept even minutes past 7 or 8. I would push myself to work through sickness. It took probably 3-4 months to realize I didn’t HAVE to get up at a certain time for work…unless I had a job or appointment of course. While it was hard to accept, I finally did.

But that wasn’t the hardest part. The hardest thing has been letting myself rest when I’m sick and not feeling bad about it.

The past few days, I’ve been feeling worse and worse. At first I thought I was just moody…”got up on the wrong side of the bed, can’t figure out a reason why” kind of moody. But then yesterday, I realized, no, you’re sick woman. As much as I fought it last night into today, I am sitting here with a stuffy head, in a fog and feeling completely worthless.

The reason most people go into small business for themselves is because they want to work for themselves. They want to make all the decisions. It’s incredibly liberating. But the other side of the coin is this…if you are a one woman (man) show, if you’re sick, your company is closed.

This leaves me with two main choices. Keep working, put out sub-par work and make myself even worse off. Or, I can ensure all my HAVE to work is done and I can rest.

So, as I sit here in a fog, trying not to look at my 6 page to-do list, I decide I will rest.

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