This past week has been an absolute whirlwind! In the last 7 days I have been in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, home in Maine, and seemed to have driven everywhere in between! We had our local Rising Tide Meet Up this week here in Portland, and I will hopefully after today feel like I have started to catch up on life! (This album is helping!)

I do my best to prepare as much I am able before a trip, because I have learned that traveling as an introvert takes SO much out of me. When I get home, as much as the entrepreneur in me wants to jump right in behind the keyboard and get to work, I have to let myself have a few easy days to rest and feel like myself again. More and more each day I am grateful for the study of introverts vs extroverts- it’s given me such a greater understanding of how to function at my best!

Something I have been trying to remind myself lately, especially on these days where I am not getting as much done as I would like, is that I can’t get caught up in comparing my business and the productivity of my business to someone who has a team of people helping them full time. I have a part time virtual intern who helps me SO much with Fount, I seriously can’t imagine working without her now! But there is just one of me. Maybe someday there will be someone else who works full time in my office, or helping me manage all the dreams in my head, but right now I have to take it one day at a time as just the only me.

I do the photographing, I do the marketing, I do the content writing, I do the email responding, I do the editing, I do the album ordering, I do the bill paying, I do the grocery shopping, I do the house cleaning…and sometimes I catch myself feeling like I should be doing more- because other great leaders in the industry are just killing it with launch after launch, and are seemingly productivity MACHINES. I just have to sometimes stop and remind myself that as a business of one, I am doing a pretty darn good job. I get up and work when no one tells me to, I dream about new ideas when I am out and about, I am determined, and I am one area at a time finding affordable systems that help me keep my head on straight. Even though I have been much more intentional with what has my time and focus so far this year, I have still at times found myself questioning if it’s been enough. Goodness, sometimes you have to remind yourself that you’re doing ok right where you are! 

Comparison can be a sneaky thing, and so often I have found it disguises itself inside of “hustling”, so often in fact that I didn’t even realize I was struggling with it! All of a sudden you start feeling like no matter how hard you’re working, or how many tasks get crossed off the list, that it’s just not good enough, big enough, or fast enough. And that’s just crazypants! So if you’re reading this right now, and you have been feeling like you aren’t enough, or even feeling like maybe you never will be enough for this industry, or running a business, I challenge you to figure out where that voice is coming from, and where those thoughts started to take root. Because oftentimes, I bet it’s coming from a loud and noisy world that we saturate ourselves with on a daily basis. Maybe it means taking a week off of social media. Maybe it means taking a break from reading anyone else’s blog. Maybe it means taking some time at a local coffee shop to shut off the noise and write out what success looks like to YOU, yet one more time. Another reminder of YOUR vision for your life and business. If I am constantly pouring into myself with what others are saying success looks like, than no wonder a breaking point comes where I start questioning my every move. I needed this reminder for myself as I wrap up this Friday’s todo list, and really thought that maybe you might need it too.

It’s looking like a beautiful weekend here on the coast of Southern Maine and I am working hard today so I can get out and enjoy it after tomorrow’s newborn session! I have some BEAUTIFUL sessions in the que to share with you here, like this incredibly lovely in home newborn session I shared above that was photographed last weekend in Rye, NY. I am also going to be sharing a bit more about my decision to photograph more and more with black and white film in my portrait sessions. Lots of good things to come!