This is where change happens!

 

A few weeks back when I started writing this mini series I truly stared with you in mind.  You reader.  Dreamer.  Doer. You’re driven and have amazing ideas.  As you read the final episode (first make sure you started at the beginning here and come back!) be inspired.  This is where I shift from telling you about me and start really aaaactually talking about YOU.  Because if you’re reading this, welcome, we’re officially part of each others lives!  So buckle up and read on friend!

 

(Says a narrator man with a dramatic flare)

Earlier on “The Life Journey” our entrepreneur found herself in a new position, mom of 2 + business owner.  She found herself managing her inbox at 2 AM, scheduling photoshoots between naps and cooking dinner while editing photo shoots.  Asking the day old question of, “How do I get more hours in the day”?

 

Will this “mompreneuer” find the balance her life needs?  Keep reading to find out…

 

The Story Continues…

As I stepped back from my split personality life (Mom + CEO) I could see the areas that were taking parts of me but not making my family or business better.

 

As I noticed these areas I began to make shifts in my business to work less while accomplishing more.  I got strategic and specific.  I was selective and guarding of where I spent my time. I realized that before I was a mom I was some what carefree (oh the days!). Carefree in the sense that I had all day, 8-10 hours to work on editing, marketing, finances, meeting with couples for their wedding and doing yoga on the side!  

 

I took the things I had been doing for years and started to reform them.  After all, it only makes sense that as your life circumstances change you reevaluate what you were doing before the change.  I needed to make my days, hours and finally my LIFE reflect my priorities. This is what I did for my family and my business.  I set boundaries and limits and this, this is where I saw true change!

 

Change for the better came when –

• I made more systems in my business
• handed off simpler tasks (yes even cleaning my house) to others
• I started saying no to things I knew did not aline with my mission
• Realized my business could thrive on automation

 

Once I started to make these changes I started to actually accomplish all I needed to in a pretty short amount of time.  Automation became my new best babysitter (well not really but it gave me loads of time back).  And I found my self getting all nerdy, talking to friends and even strangers about “systemization and outsourcing” or “did you know you can automate that?”  

 

To keep my life somewhat sane and be able to hand off my systems to an assistant (aka the best invention ever – outsourcing) I started making guides, workflows, transforming the way I did things to gain efficiency.  The result was a massive guide that I wrote. The steps I took, the changes I implemented.

 

So, I challenged myself (and my husband did too), to actually put all of this information into a package, aka – a book called Creative Business Startup.  I had to get all of my ducks in a row and PUBLISH that book before our son turned one.  Two weeks before his first birthday I celebrated being a #1 best selling author!  I loved being able to share my own business steps with others. 

 

I was starting to love when Facebook messages or emails hit my inbox asking me questions about starting a business.  Moms, women, college students with great ideas. I was able to help them in a totally different way than just taking photos.  This new way of service, handing off my book and systems was a whole new way of teaching.

 

As my business began to transform into a more lean and efficient brand I was able to step back and breath.  I had associates working under my brand name taking photos and booking weddings as well as an office assistant working full time hours but this was all made possible by the ability to structure my business to hold up these positions. 

 

While my business worked I could hold my little babies with no nagging, to do lists or pressure from my “job”.   With a passion for business systems and strategic decision making to grow my business I was now taking photos less and less for clients (let’s be honest, I constantly had a camera in had hovering over those adorable babies of mine!) Although I didn’t know it at the time I was setting myself, my life and my family up for a very different journey. 

 

I soon found my thoughts landing on another “idea” (hint: this idea will be revealed soooooon).  It was clear I was enjoying the chances to teach my neighbors and friends how to use their cameras and build skills to start their own businesses but I was dividing my time yet again.    See I started meeting with and helping nutritionists, non-profits and florists structure their lives and businesses.  I was falling in love with guiding them through the transformation of turning their talents into profitable creative businesses. 

 

One night I sat in my quiet, sleeping house with a single lamp on hovering over the computer key board.  And I started a new plan.  A plan that had the possibility of reaching new corners of the world.  I dragged and dropped, I typed, I journaled and laid it all out.  With new purpose and new strategy I was ready to hit the ground running…again!

 

To find out what happens next and see first hand the secret plan make sure to tune in next week for the season finale.  Will this “Mompreneur” retire or does she have something else up her sleeve?