Hey, beautiful souls! Welcome to 2024!!!!! And can I just say, the year ahead is brimming with possibilities! Just like you, I’m all about finding that sweet spot between personal and professional life, juggling brand photography, coaching, and navigating our empty nest but also enjoying spending tons of time with our adult kiddos. I want to share a little story that’s close to my heart about navigating this beautiful chaos. But I also want to dive into four strategies I’ve used in this season and previous seasons that’ll help you set your calendar for the year and dance through the months with purpose and clarity.

Embracing Change: A Personal Journey

Alright, many of you have been here from the beginning of my photography career…but I’ve had a lifetime of careers it seems. hahaha

For those of you who are new here, I taught elementary school from 1996-2015 off and on as we had babies and moved all over the world as a Marine Corps family. During that time I taught for the Department of Defense in Japan (a super cool experience), I did an in home preschool, I tutored in the afternoons, I taught first grade, fourth grade (twice), and kindergarten. Some of it was full time and some of it was part time. And I began my business journey in 2008 when I couldn’t find a teaching job in Hawaii. But in 2011 when we relocated to NC, I went back into the classroom full time and had my business going part time until 2015. In 2015, I went back into business full time and have been in that arena ever since.

During all of those seasons, I always found myself on a quest for balance and clarity. Each of these time periods became a season of reflection, a time to strategize and harmonize my personal and professional worlds. Being a military family, I learned quickly that it was up to me to be the steadfast anchor for our little family when the world around us was in chaos. So I’ve been doing this little dance of auditing my life and my work for many years. And these are a few things I’ve learned….

Lesson 1: Prioritize and Plan for Personal Milestones

Start by mapping out those personal milestones, friends! Family events, vacays, and those life-altering moments. Toss them on your calendar right at the beginning of the year. It’s the secret sauce to maintaining that delicate dance between your personal life and your hustle. Trust me, prioritizing the personal sets the stage for your professional magic. You allow yourself to then create a work schedule that provides for your family, but doesn’t steal the joy from it!! If you are an entrepreneur, you may have a lot of control over your schedule…use it to your advantage and work around the personal things that matter the most to you!

Lesson 2: Assess Your Work Season

Recognize your work season, girl! Whether you’re hustling for growth, taking a much-needed break, or making strategic moves in your biz, sync your goals with the life you’re seeking. Knowing where you stand professionally helps you make decisions that align with your dreams and keep that balance in check. There have been seasons of growth in my business where I was making a hard pivot and I knew I had to lean all in, but there were also seasons where our girls were graduating and I wanted to simply maintain on auto-pilot as best I could so that I could BE THERE to enjoy every final moment of their senior years. When you know the season that you’re in and are honest with yourself and others about the season you are heading into…it gets to be easier. We cannot run in a season of hustle forever, so look at where you can schedule it in, map it out and then run for it. But also plan for the exit strategy from that hustle season. Now, in my current season of empty nesting, I have more time and less responsibilities in parenting…so I can be full throttle if I choose, or I can make a shift and a pivot because my schedule allows for me to try new things and lean into coaching and speaking and teaching.

Lesson 3: The Power of Adaptability

Embrace adaptability like it’s a cozy blanket! Life throws curveballs, and being able to roll with the punches is key. Flexibility in your mindset allows you to pivot when needed, facing challenges head-on, and stumbling upon unexpected opportunities. It’s the secret sauce to staying in the game. The people who are too rigid in their planning may miss out on the greatest blessings they didn’t even know they wanted (or needed). Often times we do need to put blinders on and put our heads down to get focused on the tasks at hand…but it doesn’t mean you stay there. You need to take them off from time to time to feel the fresh ideas come flooding back in or maybe there’s a bump in the road and something unexpected throws you off…be adaptable and you’ll always win! (take it from a military spouse…whew didn’t I live this motto all my life…hahaha)

Lesson 4: Audit Your Business for Growth and Sustainability

Time for a business audit, my friend! We all tend to take on a bit too much, right? Have you ever carried around a large purse that was full of your junk and everyone else’s too? Like there’s that church candy bag, there’s a melted chapstick, there are trampoline park socks from three years ago (no? just me…ok cool…hahaha), there might be a squished up granola bar and of course mail that needs to go out, a Target item to return. And often times we just need to dump the purse in our business just like in our personal lives. Just dump it out on the counter and clear out the clutter, put the things back where they belong, throw out the things that no longer serve us, and only put back in the necessities of what is needed. Let’s streamline. Focus on what’s really working and ditch what’s not. Trust me, less is more. By minimizing the noise, you maximize your efforts and set the stage for a sustainable, growth-fueled year.

In fact, Melissa and I with The Business Reboot are hosting a workshop on Jan 30th Called “Dump the Purse: Audit Your Business for Growth”. You don’t want to miss out on this workshop where we will be helping you dump out the thing in business that need to go and welcoming in the things that will help you grow in 2024…ie make you more money!!! You can sign up at this link: BUILT Workshops

To wrap this all up…

As you step into the year ahead, weave those personal, professional, and business dreams into a beautiful tapestry. Prioritize the personal, sync with your work season, embrace adaptability, and don’t forget that business audit for sustainable growth. Let 2024 be the year your calendar reflects not just your professional priorities but also the joys of your personal life. Here’s to a year filled with purpose, grace, and strategic growth, all wrapped up with a pretty bow! 🌟✨ #YearAheadMagic #BalanceItAll #dumpthepurse #businessreboot