Big Changes are Coming to the Blog
If I’m being honest, I’ve been struggling with this blog for a while now. I absolutely love editing and plan on continuing working with my photography clients for many years to come. However, I have not felt as excited lately by the business side of this company within the last two years. Emails, marketing, social media management, blogging…it’s a lot for one person to manage, and I’ll be the first person to admit that they’re not all my strong-suits. I’ve said it many, many times over the last 5 years: having to be great at everything involved with running a business is a lot of pressure for small business owners to have, and it definitely takes its toll.
Blogging is Mentally Draining
Outside of editing, I’d say that my favorite thing to do is blog. Lately, though, the idea of blogging editing education every single week exhausts me. Even thinking about it makes me feel mentally drained. I feel burnt out before I even begin, even if it’s been months since my last post.
It makes me feel like a crazy person. This is my life…my business! HOW can sharing this important content make me feel so mentally drained? Isn’t THIS what my purpose is?? Isn’t this what I dreamed about doing 5 years ago when I first started this business? After a lot of self-reflection, I realized that the answer is actually quite simple:
It’s just not where my heart is right now.
Editing Education Isn’t Where My Heart Is Right Now
If you had asked me three years ago what my interests were outside of work, I wouldn’t have had much of a response. My response probably would have been something along the lines of, “spending time with family and friends, movies, and traveling.” It bothered me constantly. It felt like my business had become my entire life. It had consumed every aspect of my life until it became my only identity. I was always reading inspirational creative books and listening to creative business podcasts, and for a while I loved it, but it became draining.
Life is SO much more than your business. Yes, when you build a business from scratch and you’re proud of the work you do, it’s okay for your business to be part of your identity. But when you can’t even think of a single other thing that identifies you as a person, then it might be time to take a step back. And that’s where I was.
Now if you ask me what my interests are outside of work, it looks more like this:
“Spending time with family and friends, movies, traveling, taking evening walks around the neighborhood, inspiring others in their debt-free journey, Tiny house living (and dreaming of future Tiny house plans), designing, hand-lettering, relaxing at the beach, learning about pregnancy and becoming a mom, and talking with women about miscarriage.”
I’ve Changed
The last two years have changed me in ways I never thought were possible. I went from feeling like a completely empty shell whose only identifying trait was photography/photo editing to being a mother, a dreamer, and even a shoulder for others to cry on.
Last November, Zach and I finally paid off all of our debt and it was a huge milestone for us. In just 4 years, we were able to pay off $63,000 in student loans, a car loan, and other smaller loans. We did this while I was building my business and Zach received two degrees in higher-education. Anytime we were hanging out with people, they’d ask us about our debt journey and we were SO excited to talk about it. I still love talking about everything I learned along the way.
This past year, we suffered two miscarriages and it has probably been THE most challenging time of my life. After I shared my story publicly, I received so many messages from women who wanted to share their own stories with me. They were all incredible stories. My heart hurt for every single woman who reached out to me. I was glad that I could comfort them in some small way. Many of them also told me how much it meant to them that I shared my story publicly, and how it made them feel like they weren’t alone. THIS. This is why I wanted to share my story.
My Business is Evolving
My business was founded on the idea of helping photographers take back their lives by providing them with fast, reliable editing services. As the years have passed, it evolved into also helping editors take back their lives by helping them grow a profitable, thriving business. I still want these things, but I also strongly feel that I’m being called to do more. I not only want to help millennials take back their lives one debt at a time, but I want to help grieving mothers navigate through their infertility/miscarriage journeys one step at a time.
It’s Crazy…I Know
This is crazy…I know. I know this it’s totally crazy, but this is where my heart has been for a long, long time. For the last two years, I have felt incredibly restricted by this business. I thought, “I can’t blog about these other things…they have nothing to do with editing or photography!”
You see, there’s a “code” to blogging for your business: Don’t blog too much personal stuff, don’t blog too much of one thing, blog for your niche, don’t let your niche be too large or you’ll be left shouting into the void. There are so many “rules” that I’d have to start 3 other blogs just to talk about my interests. My mastermind group and Zach both told me to use my current blog to share what I want to share. “It’s YOUR blog, Emily! Share what you want!” they all said, but I’ve been scared to divert from what I’ve always been told are the “rules” to blogging. Then I think about HOW to make it work, and I feel stumped.
But I’m at my wit’s end. I’ve had enough. I want this blog to be so much more than it is and I am tired of letting arbitrary rules dictate what I do with my own platform. Maybe it’s a huge mistake, but in my heart, I really feel like this is the right thing to do. Blogging takes up a huge portion of my time, and I want the time I spend pouring into posts to be meaningful. I want my words to be more impactful, and this is the way I want to make that happen.
So Here’s the Deal:
Over the next few months, you’re going to start seeing some changes around here. Editing will continue as it has – I have no plans to stop editing because I absolutely love it. The blog is where you’ll start seeing some major changes, and I think it’ll be for the better. I am going to start blogging more about my journey to motherhood. I will talk more openly and in-depth about our miscarriages as well as things we wish we knew before starting our pregnancy journey. If we are successful in having kids someday, hopefully we can share more about parenthood in general. You’ll still see some educational posts related to business or editing. For a while, though, it’s going to revolve more around these topics.
I am also committing to helping millennials take back their lives one debt at a time. BUT it’s going to look a little different from the motherhood journey. I am SO excited to announce that Zach and I have started a separate blog together that is going to focus solely on helping millennials achieve a debt-free life! There, we’ll talk about tips & tricks we learned to save money, we’ll discuss some of the lifestyle changes we had to make in order to achieve our goals, and we’ll tell you about how we were able to invest in our first home together. I am SO excited for the content this secondary blog is going to provide, and I will be sharing it with you when it’s up and ready-to-go!
Get Excited!
I hope you are as excited about these upcoming changes as I am. It’s truly been a long time coming. Even though I know I might be breaking a few blogging rules, I think it’s going to be a really great change. I suspect as time goes by, I’ll be making adjustments as I discover what works and what doesn’t, so please just bear with me!
If you like this post, you may also enjoy reading:
Celebrating Baby Moore — Our Miscarriage Story
Celebrating Another Baby Moore — Our Miscarriage Story
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