Today officially marks one MONTH that I’ve been day job free.

I’m going to be honest, the first few weeks were pretty rocky. I thought I was going to have an amazing surplus of time, but it’s really easy to fill extra minutes when you find them. Whether it’s with errands, or editing, or shooting, or running around the yard playing in the hose with your favorite baby, minutes still pass by just as fast without a day job. And the transition from using every extra second I had on work to creating a cohesive schedule for myself has taken a few weeks. Thankfully, at the one month mark, I’ve started to fall in to a routine.

Through your computer screen you can’t tell, but I’m getting really emotional writing this. I think the hardest part about this month has been convincing myself it was real. Since the day this business was born I’ve been conditioned to work my dream around my job and this last month I was a little lost without my job… but not in a good way. I’d be driving home from a wedding and I’d catch myself starting to physically tense up because I would think about having to put the dream on hold to go back to work on Monday, even though the reality of work on Monday was culling wedding images. It wasn’t until this month that I realized how much of a toll my day job had taken on me mentally, physically, and emotionally. It’s been 4 weeks, and this new life is starting to feel real.

I know August is basically over, but I want to start publishing my goals to keep me accountable, and what better time to publish than at this one month milestone? So I’m starting small…ish. And I’ll add more at the start of September as I start to accomplish some of these.

My August Goals:

• 12 in 12: Read 12 business books in 12 months. This month: Made to Stick.
• Transition from discs to flash drives.
• Research options for outsourcing.
• Develop a weekly schedule. Stick to it.
• Make big and FINAL decisions about branding.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Today I’m driving to Flagstaff, Arizona because I’m photographing the wedding of the AMAZING Lizzie Kimball. I am SO excited… and nervous but don’t tell her. ;] So please be patient with me when it comes to responding to emails this weekend! I am excellent at multitasking, but emailing and driving is just not smart.