I’m typing this just after sending off the last few images and pieces of information that my designer, Krista, needed to finish my new site…CRAZY!! It’s kind of bittersweet..so much thought and care has gone into creating it and I just hope you love it as much as I do!! I am so excited and nervous all at the same time…I cant help but look back on my journey in this industry thus far and reflect on how I got to this point…

I love nostalgia..I’m probably going to be one of those grandma’s that makes their grandkids listen to the same story a hundred times just because I love to reflect…Looking back I think that one of the things that I’m most proud of is that I’ve waited to move forward with investing in my business until I felt really ready and had earned the money through it to put back into it…Of course I think being ready to invest in a quality brand looks different for different business owners and in no way am I suggesting that the way I did it was the only way to do it…And I think a lot depends on what success looks like for you. I’m just hoping that maybe my thoughts are helpful to someone out there! Ryan and I only ever invested a relatively small amount of capital to purchase my first professional camera and lens a year and a half ago and the rest of the money that has gone into my business I was able to earn through the business…When I first started out, it was so easy for me to want to invest in all the gear I thought I needed right away because such and such famous photographer had it and to want to drop thousands of dollars on a nice website…but here’s what I learned: It’s better to wait until your really ready.

I know it’s kind of a controversial topic..and some photographers/creative business owners would say it’s best to do up your brand right the first time…but what if you start a business, invest tons of capital, run your business for a year and then still dont book weddings, dislike the stress or crazy hours that come with being a business owner, or just decide your not supposed to be a photographer after all? I guess I look at it this way: there are tons of popular and wildly successful businesses out there that dont have great branding…but they’re popular anyway because they offer a quality product or service!

My current blog that cost 400 dollars carried me farther than I could have dreamed and I am so thankful for it!! I booked all of my weddings this year off a blog that I dont feel represents me, my personality, or my work well at all. (Also it’s kind of malfunctioning a this point…) But it was the perfect tool to get me started as I was getting my footing…I’m saying that to hopefully encourage a photographer who may be where I was (with a blog you aren’t crazy about and a brand that doesn’t feel professional or represent you well…)…because that doesn’t determine the kind of work that you produce!! If your work is improving and you are treating your clients well, then I really believe that you can move forward, regardless of if you have the money to spend on a fancy brand. Don’t get me wrong, I think it can definitely help…I’m hoping my new brand and site will help me continue to move forward! But just like I learned in the very beginning that buying an expensive camera wouldn’t make me a good photographer, neither would investing in a fancy website. I finally felt like my work was outgrowing my current blog so I decided to move forward with hiring a designer to help me rebrand and to create a more professional website for me. And I’m so excited and grateful to feel like I’m ready for it now!! But here’s the thing…I’m really happy I didn’t invest all this money into an expensive website when I first started…I just dont think I was ready…I needed to grow and learn more first and I wanted to develop my style and to figure out who I was as a photographer and to find out if running a photography business was for me. At times it was frustrating because I really wanted a better site and it was so tempting to want to rebrand right away after seeing so many other photographers rebranding, but I realized that a better site wasnt going to make my work better. Sure, maybe it would make me look more professional…but it wouldn’t guarantee that I would book more weddings and it wouldnt make me a better photographer or business person. The only thing I could guarantee at the beginning was that it would put my business in debt. Not that having to invest more money from our personal finances would have been a bad thing necessarily…but I just feel so at peace knowing that my business is actually growing and that it has the potential to be very profitable. I’m not really a risk taker so this just made sense for me:)

I think waiting also allowed me to find out if this business is really something that I wanted for my life…Running a business is a lot of work and there is still so much that I’m learning as I move forward with it…and I really dont think it’s for everyone! I couldn’t run my business without my husband helping me with taxes or bookkeeping…I’m just not good at that stuff! SO waiting to invest in a quality brand could’ve also saved me from spending a lot of money on something that wasnt for me. So for me…when I recognized that this is what the Lord wants me to do with my life at least for the next few years, I decided that I couldn’t continue to grow without a solid brand and website! There are still so many ways that I want to keep growing, but I’m so excited to see where having a new site and brand that I love and feel proud of takes my business!

And just for fun, here’s one more peek at the styled shoot that Michelle Amarillo and I put together…I’m still in the process of editing it to send it off to some wedding blogs (fingers crossed that it gets picked up!!), but this one coordinates with my website colors and is going on my new homepage so I thought I’d share it!!

If you have any thoughts on how to decide when your ready to rebrand, I’d love to hear them too! I think it would be interesting to hear from people who have rebranded more than once…I’m hoping next time I rebrand it will just have to be a mini rebrand and not a complete overhaul!