A few days ago I launched my brand new website and I can’t accurately describe how over the moon I am about this next season in my business! Guys, I have been planning this for years; slowly building the funds and the courage to be able to open a site like this, to connect with you on a personal level, to move you to tears of joy and maybe even sadness at times. I plan to openly pour my heart out to you about life, love, my home, and my photography!

But I want you to know, first off, that I am just like you. I currently work a full time job, and as much as I love my work family, I long for the day I can be self-employed. Not because it’s easy– let me assure you, it’s not! But because then I can spend more time doing what I love and spending more time with the people I love. Including my clients! After all, isn’t life all about human connection? The last few years have been full of waking up early, working 40+ hour weeks, coming home to cook and clean and love on my kiddo as much as I possibly can before bedtime. Then.. work. And more work. I can’t tell you how many evenings have been spent editing late into the night or how many nights I’ve fallen asleep on the couch. I can’t tell you how many weekends have been spent working when they should be spent with my family or how many books I haven’t read to my son.

Still, I plugged away. Years and years of nonstop working and I felt like I was getting nowhere. I could never see the end in sight. I could never see the day I’d walk out of my day job a free woman with a HUGE passion, on my way to do big things. I had contacted multiple designers and flaked on each and every one. I would make excuse after excuse why not to invest in branding and marketing and even more why I couldn’t sit down and learn it myself: mostly lack of finances and time. And in the end it came down to this: they were all just excuses. I can’t tell you how I got there, but I finally signed my name on a contract and hit “submit.” And then I sat there for a few minutes…. Why did I do that? What have I committed myself to? How much money did I just spend? Somehow by the time I laid down that night, my thought process had become, “What’s done is done” and a small part of me was becoming eager.

Then for the hard and time-consuming part. I spent five or more weeks with Alisabeth Designs brainstorming, drafting, creating, and publishing this beautiful site. Even half a country away and with 3 hours time difference, Sarah picked my brain, dealt with my perfectionism, and together we published the most amazing product I could have ever asked for. And I finally feel like my business is where it needs to be. After 6 long years, I have something to show for my work. And I finally have something to say! I hope you are as excited as me to follow along on this crazy amazing journey as I continue building my business and enjoying life! And please hang in there as I perfect my blogging style.

A quick shoutout:
I am so overwhelmed with how much support I have been shown over the years– from the start of this endeavor at age 16 to the very moment I hit “LAUNCH.” I have been encouraged by the best family in the world, the family that stands behind me and pushes my to succeed. The family that buys me new camera bags for holidays and tells me I can do this every time I have felt like quitting. I have the best boyfriend who is so willing to give up salmon fishing days on the summer Saturdays that I spend photographing weddings. I have the sweetest little boy who is my biggest fan and greets me with slobbery kisses when I get home from sessions. I could never have done any of this without these people by my side.

Xoxo, Char