365 days... plus some.

I have been working for myself for an entire year. (Plus some days.) I was literally crying this morning because I booked a family session and got two wedding inquiries. Sometimes I'm still in shock that I have this life that I have built with my own two hands. I will probably never stop being in awe of it. I have learned so much in the last year, and what better place to share all of that than here?

Probably the number one thing I learned last year is that the in-betweens are hard. After my fall event with Next Stop Kids Shop last year had a whopping ZERO people show up, and then when I got sick shortly after that, I seriously wondered what the hell I was doing. I took dozens of free webinars. How to attract your ideal client, ditching the digitals in favor of physical products, how to fill your calendar for 2019, etc. I filled up half a notebook with notes and realized all the free webinars were basically spewing the same information I already knew from the other ones I had watched. It was time to put my money where my mouth was and invest in my education if I was really going to be serious about this. I signed up for Jenna Kutcher's The Instagram Lab in October and took Jenni Maroney's Money Maker course soon thereafter.

Jenna's course literally changed the way I use Instagram as a whole. I used to be a "scroll through and like it if I think it's pretty" type of Instagram user (and still am sometimes, tbh), but after taking Jenna's course I started using Instagram strategically with engagement at the forefront. I try to engage with my followers by asking questions on my posts, and I try to engage with those I'm following by commenting and following calls-to-action on their posts. I plan out my grid at least a few weeks in advance, and now I'm trying something new where I stick to a color scheme in my photos. These days, I'm also talking to the camera in my insta-stories and showing up in my feed a lot more than I used to. It has taken me 6 months to implement a lot of the different strategies Jenna uses in her course, and I am so thankful for the community she has built from The Instagram Lab.

Jenni's course changed the way I run my business. When I signed up, I chose the option with 3 one-on-one mentoring calls and it was so insightful for me to have someone to think out loud to and problem solve with. Jenni breaks down the best ways to narrow down who your ideal client is as well as break down your business and price yourself accordingly. She introduced me to my printing lab, gave me the best pep talk when I was in the hospital dealing with my blastomycosis, and is honestly one of the sweetest people I've ever had the honor of working with. Jenni, you da best. After taking Jenni's course, I started digging deeper into album design and knew I wanted to offer prints and everything morphed into what my collections are today.

I took the off-season this year to really work on my business, while balancing a myriad of doctor's appointments and waiting for lab results. For a while it seemed like the doctor's appointments were never going to end and that I was going to be stuck inside forever because there aren't many people in Wisconsin begging for pictures in the middle of a below-zero winter. I did a couple of giveaways in hopes of getting more eyes on my business, which really just got me more likes from an Instagram ad than anything else. I spent most of this winter longing for spring to be here to be honest.

And then Wisconsin warmed up, the snow melted, and everything was in full swing again.

Wedding season started, and from there it has been families and newborns and seniors, oh-my! I only need to book seven more sessions until my editorial calendar is filled for 2019, and about 20 more sessions to get me through until next spring. I am blown away by the support I have received both from my online community and my real-life one. My heart is so full of joy and overwhelming gratitude for everything that has happened in the last year (minus the blasto because, y'know).

I am now the girl that pulls out her laptop in waiting rooms to edit photos, and the girl that's glued to her phone writing copy for Instagram captions at the laundromat.

I am truly living the life I always dreamed of, and I will never stop being thankful for it. I can't wait to see what the next year holds for me and this little business of mine.