A long time ago, before I had kids of my own, one of my brothers said to me, “I wouldn’t trade my kids for anything in the world, but if I’d known in advance how much exhausting 24/7 work it was to be a parent I’d have never agreed to it.” I remember looking at his adorable toddlers, my sweet niece and nephew, and feeling disbelief that my brother would say such a thing.
Then I had my own kids.
Sometimes you gotta live it to get it. Now I get it. Nothing prepares you for the relentlessness of parenting. NOTHING. Being a parent is amazing and wonderful and exciting and tiring and incredible and you wouldn’t trade it for anything, but it’s relentless.
And I feel that there are some parallels between parenting and running your own business.
You’ll never understand how much of you it takes, how much of your attention and concern and TIME and talent and guts and brains and determination and all kinds of other things you didn’t even know you had – until you DO it. I believe this to be particularly if you’re a Professional Photographer. Because if you’re a Professional Photographer, and if you’re even the teensiest bit like myself and many of my amazing Pro Photog friends, you’re likely a right-brained creative unruly monster of an artistic personality, and struggle more than the average businessperson with the whole ‘running the business’ side of things.
You may find out, as you reach adulthood, that your high-school algebra teacher lied : algebraic equations might not figure prominently in your world. But you do need some math if you’d like to succeed in this business (or any business). I’ve run similar breakdowns before, but it bears repeating – Professional Photography is not a get-rich quick scheme. It’s not the gateway to a world of easy riches and untold wealth with virtually no work. Nope. It’s more like Heather Lilly says in this blog post:
Do Professional Photographers Really Make Money?
She is singin’.my.song…..