I just gave birth.
…to my new website. Things were touch-and-go there for a bit, and halfway through I started screaming for drugs…but I made it. And she’s beautiful.
I’m excited beyond words to be officially ‘launched’ now! This site was a massive labor of love, and it’s the culmination of all my creative processes. To say that this site launch is highly personal would be an understatement. It’s my own little one-woman party, complete with strawberry champagne – because I’m classy like that – and paper hats.
For years, I tried to run a respectable business. I followed industry standards and regular practices. I modeled it after traditional expectations and implemented the same strategies as everyone else. I kept my creative works compartmentalized – photography over here, design on that site there, and the coaching? Well, nobody wants to hear about that, so we’ll just keep that hush-hush.
It was exhausting. And unproductive. I loved the work I was doing, but I was doing it on everyone else’s terms.
Getting paid whatever they wanted to pay me, when they wanted to pay me. Accepting any job and ill-fitting client, because surely I couldn’t turn any away!
Then, one day, I watched a documentary. A stirring, soul-wrenching piece on living on your own terms. I’m Fine, Thanks is a remarkable collection of stories about people who decide one day that they want MORE from life. They quit their corporate jobs, they sell the big fancy homes. And they start living.
While watching it, I thought to myself, I’ve already done that. I left tradition by the wayside ages ago. I live by my own rules. I’m kind of a bad ass.
And yet…I didn’t feel like a bad ass. Something in that film was pulling me, and it took me a bit to dig into it. So many of their words, their stories resonated with me. But I wasn’t in the corporate race. So what was it?
Finally, the realization hit me. I thought I was bucking tradition. I assumed I was walking my own path. But the truth was…I was actually trapped in the ‘tradition’ of entrepreneurship. When I started my business eight years ago, I read all the books I was supposed to read. I wrote the business plan I was supposed to write. I copied the industry standard business model for photography, cookie cutter to the core.
And I wondered why I wasn’t finding fulfillment.
Once I saw that I had traded one ladder for another, equally limiting climb, I knew things had to change. I set out to discover how to make my business work FOR me instead of against me. How to infuse my passion into it, every step of the way. How to let it lead me – and others – into greatness. And what I discovered along the way was a beautiful, soul-stirring, empire-worthy secret.
When we live every moment from a place of authenticity, magic unfolds.
Once I did some soul searching and faced my own truths, I was able to get really clear about what I need, what I want, and how I work best. I could pinpoint the exact feelings I chase, the motivators that bring out my muse, and the deal-breakers that squash my spirit time and time again. I was able to give myself permission to dream. To imagine what life would be like if I could operate at the speed of love ALL DAY long. I began to scribble notes and ideas everywhere I went. Inspiration hit like lightning – fast, hot and frequent. I rapidly began to paint the picture of life done MY way. Business that is 100% passion – and 100% my path. I began to see how creating this life was anything BUT selfish – I’d be setting the stage to do amazing work for the people who crave my message the most, and freeing myself from the box I had created would allow me to contribute more.
I examined every square inch of my business and my life. Every decision and every process was questioned: WHY am I doing this? Why is this set up like this? If the answer wasn’t in alignment with my purpose, my path, my mission…then away it went. Out the door. Leave it for someone else.
THEN came the fun part. Filling every ounce back up with love and authenticity. Unleashing my passion. Shaping and molding this new creation, until I arrived here. This gorgeous, shiny new website – filled with all of the best pieces of my heart. An offering to my tribe, or the tribe I’m out to find. Because this life is too short to just sit and wait for something to happen – you have to go out and make the magic to share with the rest of the world.
And THAT is my mission. So, Happy Birth Day to my new website, my newly reborn business. Let’s go make magic.
xo
Brianna
