Six years ago I was taking artsy photos like this one taken in 2017 B.C. (Before Covid)...and taking photos just to take photos, without a care in the world as to what I was going to do with them.
I had all the time in the world, I was working full time, playing music part time. I had dreams to do photography full time, but I certainly didn't know what I know now. I was a very different person back then, my bar for myself was pretty low comparatively speaking. It was "live to see tomorrow, depending on how I feel", now it's "live to see".
All in all, it's been a while since I took a photo, just to take a photo.
Makes me want to get back into that again, but I honestly find it a little difficult sometimes to shoot "just because." There's so much that goes into running a business. It's more than just clicking a shutter. I am the accountant (at least on the surface level before it gets to the hired accountant), the meeting setter upper, the sales guy, the IT, the marketer, the CEO, the expectation manager, the guy who has to pick up the pieces when they fall apart, the guy who has to put the puzzle together without knowing what the puzzle is supposed to look like (thank goodness for youtube!), the content planner, the mediator when the heart and the brain don't communicate -- and this is just one aspect of my freelancing. I have many other roles I have in this freelance career that aren't related to just photography.
I was recently offered a position with a company and for a man I truly appreciate. And after serious consideration I declined the position because I could not find a scenario where it would work for me mentally and physically. Financially it would've been great, guaranteed money. But half the battle in freelancing is the chase. If you don't appreciate the chase, you'll never succeed as a business person. You have to enjoy all parts of it, and be willing to learn and grow when shit hits the fan in all the wrong ways and flies everywhere.
It also made me realize, truly for the first time, just because I'm not out shooting doesn't mean I'm not working -- I know I know...what a concept! I can be Mr. Oblivious sometimes despite my philosophical posts. Sure it may look like sometimes I am everywhere all at once, but that's called content planning. That's called knowing when to post, when to use your voice. It's managing your time. It's setting boundaries, and respecting boundaries.
I heard a quote recently that hits home really heavy right now as I've been weighing a lot of wants and needs and remaining as steadfast as I can to be open to possibility, "Opportunities only look opportunities in the rearview mirror, today they look like risk."
This logic can be applied to anyone, anywhere, at any time. It's not just business related.
So friends if you got this far, thanks for reading, thanks for joining me for this week's edition of "The Chick Flick" my new newsletter idea that I want to do every week. There may be more that comes with this as well, but for right now, you're the first subscribers and you didn't even know it!
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