I often find myself comparing my photography business to those who are doing it full time. It’s a completely unfair comparison and, while I do gain lots of inspiration from the things they are doing, it can be discouraging! So, today I want to ENCOURAGE all you other side-hustlers. Just because we are working a full time job in addition to running our business doesn’t mean we aren’t legitimate. It doesn’t mean we aren’t just as passionate about our photography (or whatever your industry might be) and, to any clients who may be reading this, it doesn’t mean we don’t pour a ton of time, thought and energy into our work. What it does mean is that we aren’t able to take nearly the amount of clients in order to provide a valuable experience to those we do work with. It also means we spend precious evening, weekend, early morning, and sometimes even lunch-break hours editing, learning, writing, etc. (which I know many full-time photographers do also). I’m not complaining, I LOVE having a purpose for my time after I leave work at the end of the day… I choose to spend those hours that way because it feeds my soul and makes me happy!

“You don’t just ‘take’ time for the things you’re passionate about, you have to ‘make‘ the time.”

You’ve probably heard the Ansel Adams quote, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” Well, I think a similar idea can be applied to time. You don’t just ‘take’ time for the things you’re passionate about, you have to ‘make‘ the time. It’s an intentional act, not a passive, fleeting moment where everything just happens to work out in your favor. Purposely scheduling certain hours on my calendar to dedicate to specific aspects of my business is so critical. I could write something down a million times on a “to do” list (which I also love), but it’s never going to happen until I MAKE the time for it.

Here’s the thing: it’s about the little stuff. It’s easy to feel successful when you complete a set of wedding photos and hit send on a “Your photos are ready!” email. But success can be measured in all sorts of ways, many of which your followers won’t ever see.  For example, here are several things I made time for in my business last week. They aren’t life-changing, but they fed my passion and they mean that I did something to keep moving forward.

• Transferred my Kira Whitney Photography Instagram account to a business account (I know I know, it’s about time) so I can connect it to my Facebook page instead of my personal profile, promote posts and track insights. I don’t know why this took me so long, all it took was a couple buttons and bada-bing bada-ba!

• Bought a new domain, www.kirawhitney.com, to get rid of the dash that was included before (I would have done this originally, but it wasn’t available at the time). The old one will still work as well so I don’t have to reprint all my business cards or anything, but this is much more memorable and SEO friendly.

• Shot two weddings in one weekend – yeah buddy! I got to shoot at a STUNNING downtown Kansas City Venue called the Terrace on Grand and another gorgeous location called the Cider Gallery in Lawrence, KS… completely different atmospheres that were perfect for the unique couples. I highly suggest either if you are looking for a Midwest wedding venue! 

• Went to my weekly History of Photography class at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art and learned something new. Well, lots of things really! (images from the Nelson below)

• Came up with a rough outline for a new package that I’ve been dreaming about for about a year. More on this later, but it will be completely different from anything I’ve done yet!

Terrace on Grand

Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City

Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City

Making small but impactful edits on your website, blogging about what’s important to you, learning something new, getting involved in something outside your industry to expand your network, learning a work/life/other work balance… these are all contributors to my definition of success at the end of a week. How do you define success in your business? How about in your life? Okay that might be too deep for a sunny afternoon, rain check please 😉

What do you let discourage you along the journey and is it because you are focused on someone else’s version of success? Seriously, I want to hear from you! Comment below!