Let’s get personal…

For many families across the country, this week and next are all about sending the kids back to school.  The end of summer signals the end of late nights and lazy mornings, days without fixed schedules, and that sense of freedom that comes with sunny days and warmer weather.  Back to school means back to routines, appointments, activities, and alarm clocks.  No more flip flops, popsicles, beach towels, and sandy toes.  Bring on the backpacks, lunch boxes, permission slips, and homework folders.

Oddly enough, this is the first year in 25 years that I am not preparing to go back to school.  From age 5 until now, the end of August has always been about that change in routine, the cooler nights that signal that my days are about to be vastly different.  Elementary school, high school, college, grad school, and my job as a first grade teacher.  Twenty-five consecutive years of classrooms.

But this is the year that I won’t step foot into a classroom, MY classroom.  I won’t prepare my beautiful bulletin boards, put names on the cubbies, or organize my library.  I won’t put up students’ photos, fill up my plan book for the first few days, make so many photocopies, or sharpen countless pencils (I always was the worst at keeping our pencils sharpened, and the first day of school was the best shape our pencil jar was probably ever in!).  I won’t run up to my colleagues, give them a hug, and ask about their summer — always hearing the expected “but it was too short” in every conversation.

This year, while all of my former colleagues sit in meetings and welcome-back orientations, I will be on a completely different path.  This year I will be working from my photography studio, surrounding myself with two backdrop stands, rolls of seamless paper, countless blankets, sequined dresses, teeny-tiny hats and bonnets, and pinwheels.  I will organize my proofs, edit 3 more galleries, shoot 4 sessions and a photo booth event, and network with local small business owners as we plan for my first workshop and another huge event this fall.  Instead of answering emails from my students’ parents until 11pm, I will be eagerly writing to my new friends from the #risingtidechallenge, prepping my clients for their upcoming session, and planning wardrobe for that family of 5 coming to see me next week.

Do I miss it?  I’m sure I will.  But do I love the opportunity that is here right now?  Most definitely.

I feel so fortunate to be able to pursue a career that I absolutely love.  I worked so hard for three years to build this business up while working as a full-time first grade teacher.  Three years of editing until 11pm, packaging my clients’ photos after dinner, filling my weekends with sessions, and constantly trying to stay up to date with the emails, contracts, marketing, and galleries.  For three years, I was only able to take my business to a certain point.  I did not have the time to grow it past that point, no matter how much I wanted to.  There were never enough hours in the day for me to roll out my big plans and to act on my big dreams.

Launching full-time has been the best decision I could have ever made as a career woman, as a creative, and as an individual.  I am finally finding BALANCE in my life, something that has not existed for three solid years.  I am proud to say that I now run a full-service photography boutique with excellent customer service, beautiful signature products, and unique and stunning sessions with our signature style that NSP has become known for.  Opening our studio has truly opened the doors to infinite possibilities, and our sessions are an entirely different creative offering than they were when I shot on-location and part-time.  Last week I hand-painted a canvas backdrop for an upcoming event, designed a cake smash set, baked and decorated a ruffled cake for a first year session, got together with another photographer to exchange head shots on the beach, met with a City of Boston coordinator about women entrepreneurs, increased my Instagram following by 25%, tried my hand at a lifestyle newborn session with twins, gained an impressive amount of likes on my Facebook page by targeted marketing, publicized my DSLR workshop and Fresh 48 sessions, participated in the Rising Tide Challenge on Instagram, and put my head together with so many local small business owners about collaborating and supporting each other’s businesses.  All of that on top of sessions, ordering appointments, and emails… the things that used to be the only things I had time for in the week.  Before, I never would have had time for any of that!  Now, I am so fortunate to be able to MAKE the time for those things that I love, explore new paths, and enjoy the many creative aspects that come with this business.

After last week, I have never felt more fulfilled as a creative and as a professional.  I came home every night (well, sometimes I walked from the studio into the kitchen, but still, that’s what coming home from work looks like these days!) and I exclaimed to my husband Jeff how far we were getting with this, how amazing these opportunities were, and how happy and balanced life finally was.  Looking at the week ahead, I am thrilled about all of the opportunities that I have created to really find my place in this community of creative individuals with big dreams.  We believe in community over competition.  We believe in encouraging others, educating others, and elevating the industry.  We believe in hard work and fairy dust.  We believe in chasing our dreams and making them a reality.  We believe in providing the best experience possible for our clients, in exceeding their expectations, and in giving them something to say “Wow!” about.  We believe in living life, loving life, and creating memories.  We believe in dreaming, and then dreaming even bigger dreams.

This is it.  I am living my dream, and I absolutely love it!

Photos courtesy of the talented Cassandra Lauren Photography.

Thank you for the gorgeous head shots and for a very fun evening at the beach, Cassie!