News & Useful Stuff
(also procrastination fuel – you’re welcome!)
What to do when you’re frustrated with your day job
Most of us will have had a day job at one point or another - lots of us still do. They mostly don't light us up, but they tick along nicely, pay the bills, give us some social contact, enable us to experiment and get going with the businesses we dream of, and...
What a stock take really looks like…
We all run, or dream of running, our businesses from home. No more commuting, office hours, small talk with people we have nothing in common with. Some dream of running their business from anywhere - though sandy beaches play havoc with your laptop's keyboard, and...
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing
So many conversations I've had recently about Being In Business. "I don't feel like a proper businesswoman." "I don't feel like the word entrepreneur describes me." "My day job is ok." "I don't want to give up my job entirely." "I want to do lots of things." "I like...
Dreaming of decluttering
Where do you run your business from? No, my desk never actually looks this pretty... I used to have an office in my spare room (I rather grandly called it a studio, but really it was a big desk with a jewellery workbench on one end, big screens for editing, and wall...
Filling your creative well
Recently, my body and brain and heart have all told me in no uncertain terms that enough is enough. (This fluffy cat of mine also regularly gets in my way enough to give me a hint that I should be cuddling her, not working...) They are tired and they need to stop. I...
Even your snapshots are worth printing
There have been a few posts like this surfacing recently, and at first I didn't think much of them. Photos are photos, whether they're digital or printed, right? And you always get the important ones printed, don't you? The weddings, the graduation photos, the...
Be the one who people talk about
In my youth, I was often the subject of whispers and giggling. In one memorable-for-all-the-wrong-reasons occasion when I was fourteen, I was also the subject of a secret bet – how long would the boy I was dating put up with me before he dumped me? (Answer,...
Why a day job isn’t always a bad thing
It can be really easy, when you're looking for advice about your beloved business, to get bogged down in other people's opinions rather than finding the advice you needed in the first place. I've noticed, among some of the mentors/teachers/gurus out there, a tendency...
When the muse deserts you
Some days, you just don't want to blog. Or, more accurately, you want to blog, but the words are just not coming. And yes, I fully appreciate the irony of this being a blog post. The endless sea of gurus telling you "you should blog" "blog all the time" "make sure...
Kitten interlude
I've been testing out my new camera body on the most easily-available subjects - my two cats, Luna and Clover! And the extra hour of daylight today made SUCH a difference... even if it is making it impossible for me to go to bed at a sensible time. I know you're doing...
Brand Photography: Janine, In Love With Colour
This session was ridiculously fun! The lovely Janine runs In Love With Colour, where she does colour analysis - finding the best colours for each person, to make them look their best. (And I do mean at their best - the blusher she recommended to me makes me look like...
On Purpose
A few days ago, I saw a link to an article on living life on purpose. I loved the phrasing... on purpose is exactly how I try to live and design my life, and why I get so frustrated (and I know you do too) when people look at what you've created, and say, "oh, you're...
Breaking blocks
It's taken me almost a decade to embrace the fact that photography is, like writing, as natural to me as breathing. Some bad experiences with negativity online, when I was still very young and took everything to heart, have kept me from pursuing something that makes...
Bravery
This morning I started reading Big Magic. This afternoon I spotted that my one of favourite photographers, Kerrie Mitchell, with whom I plan to spend a day shooting and learning and planning my business in February, was exhibiting at Wivenhoe House wedding fair....
Creative secrecy
During a wonderfully inspiring conversation yesterday (which gave me the final push I needed to actually get this site off the ground - thank you J!), we hit upon the subject of creative secrecy. I find it fascinating how much creative people hide from their nearest...