This is where it all began… 

They were five and we were living in Hawaii…notice the preschool graduation leis?!?!  (and yes, in Hawaii, you add candy..hence why Madelyn has a HUGE peanut M&M’s  pack around her neck…hahahahaha) 

We moved to the islands and were living the dream…it was PARADISE.  

Except when it came to my work.  

I couldn’t find a full time teaching job and  a photography business literally fell into my lap. I mean, I did have a fancy camera, loved working with children and families, and we lived in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.  

Recipe for success right?! 

Not so fast… I had a lot to learn about BUSINESS!!!  

And how to manage a business and our household.  And while Kevin and I are equal partners in our household…dude does lots of laundry…but the reality is that he is often gone.  Even though he isn’t an active duty Marine anymore, he travels quite a bit for work still.  In those early years, I had to create some hard and firm boundaries around my home and work life.  

Balance is literally a four letter word…I mean not really…but you know what I mean. But I had to find a way to RUN MY BUSINESS  if I was going to have a business.   

You know what that  looked like?  Dirty dishes in the sink from breakfast and lunch until I was ready to start dinner and had time to get to them.  Laundry that happened “after work hours”.  Cleaning my house on Fridays or on the weekend.  I couldn’t expect to have a perfectly cleaned Southern Living home while also running a kick ass photography business and raising three children…often times alone.  

Boom.

Done.

Mic Drop.  

So I’m giving you permission to stop putting so much pressure on yourself.  Outsource what you can. Give your children chores or zones for household tasks.  LET IT GO!!!  

If you treat your business like a hobby, it will pay you like a hobby.  When you treat it like a business, it will pay you like a business. 

I sure as heck was not doing laundry while I was teaching kindergarten so what makes you think I can do laundry and write amazing blog posts and edit pics and send invoices and do instagram stories and meet up with clients and deliver prints….see how silly that sounds?!!?  So rest easy in that you weren’t created to do it all and do it well.  

A few ways you can work smarter could be: 

1:  Time block:  work for a period of time on a specific task or a specific part of your business then take a break (maybe then you can throw a load of laundry in or do dishes)…then for the next block of time, move on to a new task or area of business that needs your attention 

2:  Hire someone to help you clean or outsource some of your business work to.  A virtual assistant can give you back so much time!!!!!!  

3:  Get a childcare schedule that can give you pockets of work time.  When Grace was little, I tutored from home.  I would watch a neighbor’s kiddos while she taught gymnastics in the morning and she would watch Grace while I tutored in the afternoons.  Neither of us had to pay for childcare and we both got dedicated work hours in each day. Get creative.  

4: Don’t compare your season to someone else’s.  If you have four kiddos under five at home, your business may not look like mine.  I have one who has graduated from college and two more in college.  Guess how many hours a day I have to work on and in my business… A LOT!  So don’t compare where you are to where someone else is.  Sure you can have full time childcare and run your business FULL SPEED AHEAD…but if that is not what you can do right now, just do the next right thing for your business. Each season never lasts forever!!  Find pockets of time to work in.  

5: Lower your expectations and listen to your heart. You don’t have to have a perfect home to be a great mom. You don’t have to make 6 figures to have a successful business. Listen to your heart.  Where is it calling you?  Where does your heart know you need to focus?  For some of us, we are being called to slow down and spend more time with our kids.  For others of us, we are being called to build more work time into our schedules because our hearts are longing to create and dream bigger dreams.  Guess what…neither of those are wrong!!!!!  Both are perfectly aligned for the person who is listening to their hearts and answering those callings.  

Get quiet and listen….then act on what you know you need to do next. And if you aren’t sure what the next right step is…hire a coach who can help you map it all out and get a very clear plan.  I’m doing that for several ladies right now and it’s so wonderful to see how having a little outside perspective, some key tips and tricks and someone cheering you on can take your so far!!!!  

I pray this has helped in some way. Take a piece of it and apply it to where you are…or map out each of the steps and begin transforming the way you look at life and work and that ugly word “balance”.  

I’m here to cheer you on always because we all need more high fives and smiles!!  

Xoxo…

Blessings,

Corry

And if you are ready to start coaching with me today….here’s the link: www.corryfrazierphotography.com/contact