Where a steady business exists, a consistent life follows, and vice versa

Business affects life…life affects business…

This was a huge lesson for me to learn once I quit my job - and a quote from Jeff Shaw’s Book, The Self-Employed Life, is an important reminder.

When Jeff first sent me copies of the book, my first thought was that this would be a fun one to shoot based simply on the beautiful color scheme on the cover.

And it was - that tealish blue pops so much!

But, once I opened the book and actually started skimming its pages to find interesting quotes and phrases that Jeff could use in his marketing and promotional content, I realized that the value of this book far exceeds its beauty alone. 

As someone who is self-employed, a lot of the nuggets of wisdom and deep insights shared spoke directly to me, resonating in an impactful way. 

I was taking mental notes on the words I was photographing in order to marinate on them after I was done with the book boudoir session.

Truthfully, I don’t read the books I photograph in their entirety, but I often walk away with some amazing nuggets that I can adopt into my thinking as I skim them and shoot. 

And the photo of the specific quote above stood out most for me. 

When I quit my job and decided I wanted to be a full-time photographer in 2014, I had no idea how to do anything. 

I was lost, and quite frankly, terrified. 

I lost days upon days being overwhelmed with anxiety and fear, and had no idea how to deal with those emotions in a way to clear headspace and be present so I could work to identify a path to build the business I wanted.

It was a rough ride at the beginning, to say the least. 

I wasn’t sleeping or eating all that well, and the toll was huge, as I felt detached from the rest of the world. 

I was uncomfortable in every way possible, and had no idea how to fix it. 

But fortunately, over time, opportunities presented themselves, and that led to even more opportunities. And the world started to look a little different. 

Rather than wake up every 25 minutes and have an anxious episode, I started to sleep better through the night. 

I also hired a nutritionist and that changed the game for my diet, which also helped feed my mental clarity and overall health. This helped to create a lot less dragging ass and a lot more productive stretches throughout my day-to-day. 

I realized at this time of my life getting a handle on the business side of life is only important because it’s how I make money, but it also deeply affects all the other areas of my life, as well.

And vice versa. 

Well shit, this would’ve been good to know from the beginning, wouldn’t it?

Either way, I now am much more mindful and aware of how my overall emotional state is being affected by business and life matters, and that has become a huge aspect to my overall self-care. 

Rather than let the imbalance in one area or another shake me to the core, I now take it in stride, acknowledge the issue, compartmentalize when I need to be present for other, more pressing matters, and then, make time to address, diagnose and create a course of care to minimize or eliminate that problem or challenge. 

And that’s why this quote lives on my apartment wall.

It’s a reminder that this type of work is never done, and I must remain diligent to fostering a business that brings in steady business in order to keep balance.

It’s also a reminder that when things become misaligned, that I don’t freak out and lose focus, but rather, lean into the challenge and work through it in order to get my emotional state back to neutral ground. 

It’s a much better way to spend a day, know what I mean? :)