Tag Archives: freelancer

Day 3408 – We Are Hanging Up Our Cameras – repost With Some Updates

Posted on by
Reply

I’m working out of the “office” today and needed to write this post in the early morning hours. I honestly had no idea what to write, mostly because all my good ideas will take a lot longer than I have to write. I was skimming through my stats over the years, and the following post was high on the 2015 list.

While my freelancing life hasn’t gone how I expected, Bret and I were just talking today about how if I hadn’t been freelancing, there’s no way I would have been able to help as much as I have in our real estate business. You never know where life will take you and that is really cool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Originally posted 8/19/15
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a post I never thought I’d write. For years, photography was my dream job. I worked so hard for so long. And yet, the decision to stop was incredibly easy and I have a huge peace about it.

I had been thinking my time might be winding down and it got to a point where we had to decide – are we stopping or are we going to keep at it? What happened next was one of the most awesome moments in our marriage.

We knelt down to pray about the business and asked God for clarity. After we finished, Bret said he had an answer, almost immediately. He said he wanted to wait until I had an answer before he told me what he heard.

So for about 5-10 minutes, I was lost. I had no idea what God was telling me. I felt like it was time, but we just had a great opportunity pop up. Then God reminded me of an odd trend in our marriage. We’ll make a decision and almost immediately (sometimes hours or a day or two) a seemingly better opportunity comes up. Being reminded of this, I told Bret, you know, I think we’re supposed to stop but this opportunity made it sound like we should keep going. I think God is saying to stop photographing. He gave me a serious stare, just to the point of worrying me, laughed and said that he heard the same thing. It was so awesome to be in accord and of the same mind. It was great to see how God had knit us so close to each other and to God that we could both clearly hear what God was saying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What am I going to do now?
I’m currently working for a few amazing photographers helping them with the business side of their business. The short description is I’m a fancy virtual assistant (and in person assistant). 🙂 It has been so fulfilling to take the skills I’ve gained over ten years in business and use them to help other businesses. I’m also still working on my book…which is a whole adventure in and of itself! All in all, I’m going to enjoy my weekends and free time with Bret.

What about my client’s photos?
Never fear! All of my weddings and portraits are online and will stay there. I use the site for backing up my personal photos too! You can still order your photos from here too. No change there. I have my client photos backed up multiple times offline too. The only thing that has changed is that we won’t be photographing any new clients. That’s it. If you have questions about ordering photos or albums, let me know.

So what was the REAL reason you stopped?
Well, a big part was Bret teaching full-time. It was so much work for him to work a full day at school and then work another 6-8+ hours for me. We were both pretty spent. It wasn’t because we had bad clients or didn’t like photographing weddings anymore. It all comes down to God said it’s time to stop and we said ok.

Jen! Who is supposed to photograph my wedding?
I highly recommend Shawna Sherrell Photography – she was one of our wedding photographers.
I also highly recommend Robin Shotola Photography & Design – she is an amazing photographer and also offers photo booth services.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am so incredibly thankful for the many years of owning my own photography business. For the dozens and dozens of clients and the hundreds and hundreds of family and friends I met through my weddings and portrait sessions. I have lifelong friendships that I truly cherish.

And here’s the best part – my business was not a failure. A few years back, we started praying before every consult, get to know you, rehearsal, wedding, photo viewing and everything related to our clients. We would pray that the couple would be blessed through our work, that God would be glorified through us and that everyone would just have a blast. I feel that prayer was answered every time. I am satisfied with the product we gave to our clients and the customer service we gave with each one. I am thankful that I was the boss and I could “make the rules” and make the business very personable and warm.

In the time leading up to “announcing” this, I was more excited than anything else. I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t bummed…which is so weird to say considering how long I was in business. But I will admit when I updated my website the other day to say we would not be taking on any new clients, I got a little weepy. I poured so much of myself into this business. I have grown so much over the last decade of my life. I would change a few decisions, to be sure (bet you were thinking I would say I wouldn’t change a thing…well, I thought about it, but it’s not true). What I wouldn’t change are the friendships. What I wouldn’t change is how Bret gave me wings (take that Red Bull!) to fly high with my dream. Heck, he bought the materials and built the wings for me. He has nurtured me into the business owner and person that I am today.

If you have any questions, please let me know. My email is still active (journeywiththegs@gmail.com). I love you all and I’m excited to see where this new journey will take me.

And nothing ends this post better than a few behind the scenes photos. 🙂

day_01866n

day_01866z

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 3338 – Counting Down Days, Looking Backwards

Posted on by
Reply

Y’all know I love looking back, especially using Facebook Memories. I’ve talked about how interesting it is to watch what I posted about in the weeks and months leading up to my eventual sobriety. Remembering (or barely remembering) things I did, parties I went to, etc.

But something stuck out this August. In 2011, I was counting down to becoming a full-time photographer. I was finally leaving the 9-5 world. I can’t believe I’ve been a freelancer for almost 7 years. There are definitely things I should have done differently (went full-time way too early), but the rough times over the last 7 years have taught me so much about myself.

So what struck me today is that I had one countdown I knew was coming (full-time freelancer), and one I did not (sobriety), years later. Sometimes, you can only see the countdown when looking back. You can look at posts on social media or entries in your journal and see how everything was leading to this one moment. If you find yourself in a trying time, just know that when you can look back with the clarity of time, you might just find that everything was leading you to someplace you’ve never dreamed possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 3290 – 2500 Days As A Freelancer!!

Posted on by
2

I am so thankful that to be a freelancer and I will work my butt off the rest of my life to NOT work a 9-5 job again. It hasn’t been an easy road, for sure. There have been many tears. Many days I want to throw in the towel. But the rewards so far outweigh the struggles.

If you have a dream, I urge you to chase it.

Here is what my days mostly look like. 😀 (well, minus editing photos)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 3221 – The Dark Side Of Freelancing – or – Six Years Freelancing – repost – With Some Updates

Posted on by
Reply

I wasn’t sure what to post today and came across this post in my morning blog review. What’s funny is as I read it, I noticed things I don’t think anymore. I say “It is much harder to make money. I have made more than half of what I made at my 9-5 jobs.” Through things I’m reading now, and some major mindset shifts I’ve had in the last six months, I realize that I was the reason why I wasn’t making more. I am the reason why I am not making more. I’m so thankful for the resources available to help me grow, and recognizing some shortcomings in myself.

But, I will say, the Light Side of freelancing is the growth, the change, and the fact that you can transform yourself at any moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scrolling through my On This Day today, I noticed I started each post the same “I can’t believe….I cannot believe….etc….I’ve been a freelancer for XXX years” And to be fair, I still can’t believe this is my life, working as a freelancer. Having complete freedom of my days and my schedule. Being responsible for making my income. There are a few things I might change over the past few years. I would drink way less, I would have increased our fees for photography sooner and more gradually. Then again, everything I’ve gone through has made me who I am today, and I really like myself and how I’ve grown. But there are things that aren’t that pretty about freelancing. There are some really hard things.

– It is much harder to make money. I have made more than half of what I made at my 9-5 jobs.
– There are stretches where I don’t shower for a few days. It’s a “well, why bother?” attitude.
– It is incredibly lonely. I can go days without seeing anyone other than Bret, librarians, and cashiers.
– There is a sharp increase of self-doubt.
– Not too many people will understand what you’re going through.
– There will be dozens…hundreds….thousands of people who do what you do who will do it cheaper.

I’ve also been considering how different my life would have been if I didn’t jump into full-time freelance work. Here are a few things I would have missed out on.

– Travel. Hands down, this has been the best outcome of freelancing. I can up and go when I want. I probably would not have taken as many cross country road trips as I have if I was still “workin’ for the man.”
– More time with Bret, stress free. When I was working a 9-5, and building a business on the evenings and weekends, there was very little time to hang out with Bret. And when we would hang out, there was always the tug of things I should be doing. There was always stress.
– I wouldn’t have had the time I have now to help Bret build his real estate investing business. I can devote time now to getting things organized and running smoothly so he can focus on what he does best.
– I wouldn’t have met all of the amazing business owners at meet ups, conferences, and weddings.
– I would have been plagued with lots of what if questions.
– I probably wouldn’t have written two books.

Are there sacrifices I’ve made to freelance? Oh baby yea. But I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Here’s to another 6 years freelancing!

This is from my first wedding as a full-time freelancer. 🙂

originally posted 9/9/17

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 3213 – Cubicle Day Thoughts

Posted on by
Reply

I have been a freelancer for 2,423 days. I’ve really only had one office job where I had a cubicle, but it was enough to completely sour me to cubicles. Oy. Now, it’s was probably more a matter of me being in a job I didn’t love and didn’t let me thrive than being a bad job. Like anything in life, my worst job is someone’s best job. But a cubicle life is not for me.

When I first started working freelance, I was running a wedding photography business. My income was ok, but nearly as good as my 9-5 job. Even now, I know I am making much less than I am worth. But, I am taking steps to learn more so I can earn more. It wasn’t until recently that I realized I had a deep set belief that I was not worth more. While in some respects, I was completely surprised by this realization. In others though, it was obvious – one only had to look at my bank account to see I did not value myself like I should.

But that right there is one of the biggest things I’ve learned over the years – all of it is a process. You grow, you change, you take ten steps back, you learn more, you take 100 steps forward, then you fall down the stairs. But you just keep going. I can look back and see that if I wasn’t freelancing right now, I wouldn’t have been able to help with our real estate business as much as I have been. Given the fact that we’re sharing a car and Bret has a day job, I can be the one to run errands, and he doesn’t have to take off.

While there is a part of me that misses having a fully stocked office supplies closet, I am so thankful that on most days, my cubicle is wherever I am.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel