A Diary Entry – Happy yet Determined

This post is for me .. a record of things going on at the moment, I want to remember.   Part of the journey I’m travelling that I want to remember.

This year has been quite a big year for me, with each step of the way being quite significant in where I am now and what I hope to achieve in business.   Until this year, well actually now, I’ve always thought of my photography as a hobby. Never really calling myself a ‘professional’ photographer but more a fun girl who likes to take pictures of people in a semi-professional kind of way.   In saying that, I worked hard on making a pretty cool website with it’s purpose being a mere point of reference for interested others who just might like to have their picture taken.

Daily I sit at the computer and swoon over other photographer’s websites and blogs and facebook pages and I think “Wow, this is amazing”.   “I’d love to be like that”.   “How do they do that?”   These statements and questions have never really had much to do with the images I saw in front of me.   It was all related to my lack of business confidence and understanding how things work to be successful.   It’s like I know what I want .. just not how to get there and they know what they want and how to be successful.

Two thousand and ten has been a year of defining what I want.   It’s been a year of making decisions.   Which leaves the rest of this year and next year to get this party started.   To start to take the risks and as one of my all time business and photographic mentors, Jasmine Star would say “Give myself permission to fail”.   This past month, I’ve taken action and although feeling quite nervous about the entire process, I’m excited for the new beginning.

My mind has been muddled with questions and statements all year wondering about the ‘whats’ and the ‘hows’ but my actions in working through the process all started with long conversations with one of my dear neighbours.   As our children wave good-bye to us at the bus stop (a.k.a. our front patios) each morning, we stand and chat and laugh and share and love.   It’s a precious time in my day.   It’s a valuable time as I take something from it every.single.time.     I learn a lesson every.single.time. as we stand and chat and laugh and share and love together.   A few months ago, Michelle began to rave about her new house cleaner.   It was something we had talked about all year and finally she had done something about it.  It took me a while to come on board, a part of the story which is another post in itself but when I did, I realised the benefits of outsourcing.   This simple action of contracting someone else to clean my house and workspace, allows me to focus more on my business for another few hours each week not to mention my house never being cleaner.    I realised a professional cleaner could clean my windows or bathroom or kitchen cupboards or floors or sills  one hundred times better and faster than I could ever do.    It quickly became apparent that in the few short hours each week, I not only had a better looking home I had also began to process to action some of my muddled thoughts of the business ‘What’ and ‘How’.   I began to think how else could this work.  I instantly thought what other areas of my life and my business would ‘outsourcing’ work for me and make me more successful in life.  You see, up until now, I’d always thought I could do it all.

In the meantime, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet two gorgeous and dynamic ladies here in the far north.   Katy and Peace from Connect2Mums are amazing women.   They’re an inspiration to all mums and infact people.   They’re knowledgable and genuine and friendly and sharing and determined.   I like them a lot.   They offer me more than words can say through their warm personalities and their published books and their network, Connect2Mums. Through them I have found new friends, learnt how to be confident, reminded just how special generosity is and finally really understood the benefits of networking.   Through them I have achieved one of my goals … to be published.   Through them I have began the process of building my business, with confidence.  With purpose.  With determination.  With mindfulness.

So what does this all mean in real life?    It means, I’m ready to take my business seriously.   It means, I’m ready to invest money and time into the business side of things to make this work.   It means, I’d be ready to fail and be happy rather than ‘not fail’ and wonder ‘what if…?’ forever.   So to begin putting this into place, in the past month I have:

• Began the process of outsourcing publicity.
• Committed to finally getting a professional logo to match my brand and what I want to be known for.
• Contracted a company to re-do my website and started planning what this will look like.  The details.  The personality.  The brand.
• Scoping various sources of influence and empowerment.
• Decreased my bank account considerably and felt good about it.

You may think I’m crazy but this is all without a business plan on paper.  There’s been a lot of thinking gone into this process.    It’s all there and by ‘Beginning the process…. and “Committing to ….” and “Contracting …” and “Scoping…” the most important things, I know I will now commit to this plan.on.paper.today.    For me, I needed to get the ball rolling through ‘doing’.   I’ve been ‘thinking’ for a long time and I needed to start acting.

Phew … it’s out there … I’m happy to fail yet determined to succeed.

A blog post from me is no post without a photo.   Last week’s orders arrived in the mail yesterday.   Amongst the thousand and one acrylic tiles ordered for others, were two precious ones I had ordered for Bof’s Santa stocking.   They’ll be proudly displayed on his office desk to remember when he’s at work, just one of the little facial expressions Patrick can pull and how sensitive and sweet Harry can be.   Shhhhhh … it’s a surprise.

Until next time … enjoy.

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