2016 was a turning point in my life, both personally and professionally. As I had been 8 years officially into my career as a professional photographer as a woman without a child, I honestly didn’t think that having a baby would really change my professional life once I got back to work. But, of course, it changed everything.
For 8 years I’d offered custom family and child portrait sessions and loved it. What no one saw behind the scenes was the 60+ hours of work a week for this one-woman show to keep things afloat. So naturally when Charlie came along, things had to change. I needed to stay home with him and yet I still needed to work. As I was looking at other photographers to hire for our own family photos, like everyone else I had a small budget and found myself saying over and over “I just need a few, I just can’t spend that kind of money.”
Lightbulb.
I took the 5 Minute mini-sessions I had offered a couple times a year in 2014 and 2015 and went against every business model I had as a self-employed business owner, said “This is crazy!” and jumped.
The rest is history. 2016 was an INCREDIBLE YEAR for the new business model of just 5 Minute Mini-Sessions. I was SO BUSY I literally had no time to blog or post images to social media. Like me, hundreds of other families also only needed a few images and didn’t want to spend a lot of time or money on one shoot. I had many families come back for multiple sessions at different locations because they could now afford the variety and documenting different milestones. Families no longer had to haggle over finding a mutually available date, or choose a location, or know where to send payment, or choose photos, or wait weeks for photos. Nope, all they had to do was look at my schedule online, pick a date/time at a location that worked for them, pay online, they get directions from me in an email the day before, and best yet, they got their pictures back in a week.
I didn’t just change things to save everyone time & money, it made everything BETTER.
Planning for 2017 is underway. Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to slow down to a sloth’s pace in the winter months as I plan for the next year’s season (April 1 – the weekend before Christmas). Here’s some highlights I’m working on:
• 4th Annual NICU Then & Now Portrait series returns this spring
• After a three year hiatus, my FREE toddler photo contests, ROCK THE TUTU for the girls and ROCK MY TIE for the boys, will return this spring with the grand prize of FIVE 5 Minute Mini-Sessions to each winner. Seriously, it’s going to be wicked fun.
• 2nd Annual Mini’s at Kauffman Stadium, a fun once a year special event
• Toddler Tuesday half priced sessions
• Playdate group rates & special scheduling
• Photo contests with photo booth props to win some freebies (what I won’t say yet…)
• And if I shared any more it would take away all the fun!
My NICU work will also be more active this year as we move back into Johnson County and I am not an hour away from the hospitals! I’m so excited for what I have planned for that!
Anyhoo, if you’ve made it this far, make sure you comment below for a chance to win a free 5 Minute session just for actually reading my blog! Winner will be contacted via email by Jan 10th!
Happy 2017! Thank you all for your love and support! The best is yet to come!
