I can't believe how much my business has grown in the last 2 years.  In 2013 I photographed 10 Seniors, 2014 I photographed 23 seniors, 2015 I photographed 57 seniors, and this year I hit 89 2016 seniors, in addition to other sessions!!  SERIOUSLY WHAT!!  I can't believe it.   And my goal is set even higher for Class of 2017 (100 to be exact).  I am loving every single second of this.  BUT, as my business is growing so is my family.  Having my own business is a blessing and a curse at the same time.  I love hearing "It would be so nice to make my own hours" on a regular basis.  And it is, but here is the problem..  My hours do not seem to shut off.  When you leave work at 5 pm, you log off your computer, and go home to your family (well most of you), but I don't.  My email is going off all hours of the day and night.  I can't help myself but answer it, so if you email me at 9, you usually having a response by 9:05.  I don't ever want my clients to wait for me to respond.  That is slowly (well fastly) becoming a problem.  I am always on my phone, always working.  While I love being available to everyone all the time, my kids are not enjoying it so much.  

This morning I was emailing back and forth with someone and Kooper said "Momma, come look at this, hurry."  I was so busy I said "Hold on Kooper, momma is working real quick.  His response made me stop in my tracks "Momma, but you are always working."  Wow, my 3-year-old realizes that I am always on my phone.  Well that has got to stop. Starting today, I am designing a new work-flow for when I am at home.  I am going to set aside specific times of the day to take a break from being a mom to being a business owner.  When I am in my busy season, that is easy because I head to the office every afternoon, but in my slow-season I tend to work from home more than studio.  It is my hope that this helps everyone.  It is not fair to you that I am preoccupied with a one-year-old attached to my leg while I am emailing you.  I want to be able to give everyone 100% off my attention and that is what is going to happen!

Now this is going to be a work in progress, so please bare with me as I make this transition into a new work/home life balance.  

I have to keep reminding myself "My kids are important and I can't be with them and you at the same time, all the time."