A Word From Me to Me: A Little Note to My Younger Self

Reflecting on all that was this past week, if there is anything I could tell my younger self, it’s this: you’ll get it all figured out.

From the time I started having to think about what I wanted to “be” in life, what I wanted to do for work, I always remember thinking that I wanted a few things:

• I wanted to work for myself.
• I found it so incredibly cool when people had to travel for work events, meetings, etc.
• I wanted to own an office space.
• I wanted to inspire others.
• I wanted to make a lot of money (who doesn’t dream of this? 🤣)

Now, when you’re in middle school and high school, absolutely nobody presents you with a career path that caters to all of those bullet points. When you get assigned that staple “What I Want to Be When I Grow Up” essay, you’re pumped with the typical ol’…dentist, teacher, police officer, fire fighter, astronaut, the list of textbook careers goes on.

In reality, if a teacher would have presented me with the option of being an entrepreneur, I would have jumped at it immediately. However, although I felt so certain entrepreneurship was for me, I would go YEARS before I came to an idea of what and how. Over time, I opened an Etsy shop “selling” accessories (I never sold not one). I opened an online boutique and stored the inventory on our back porch. A friend once ran a sweater design by me and within seconds I was sewing together a mock up prototype. I always knew that I was meant to be an entrepreneur, that I was willing to do anything to get there. (If you want a little more into my business story, check out my YouTube on it!)

I remember going through college content with becoming a special education teacher. It at least gave me my own space and certainly checked off inspiring/helping others. I knew traveling would still happen personally, so I accepted I’d have to live vicariously through friends that would go into careers paths that allowed them to travel the world. The pay was great and I could live with working for someone else. At least so I thought…

When I began my photography business as a small side hustle on the weekends, I was excited. Here it was, finally. A taste at working for myself. What did that mean? What did that look like? What the fuck do I have to do? It was such a different world. Nobody to turn to when a problem arose. Nobody telling me when to work, what to do, and how to do it. I had total control. And I loved every second of it.

But no matter how happy and content I was in life, that little entrepreneurial voice inside of me wanting those small things never shut the hell up. It was always there. With each child we had, I yearned to be home more. I flooded my mind with ways to get out of teaching and work for myself. And the more and more I grew detached from the career I thought I would hold until retirement, the more and more I was desperate to make things work with this small business.

Fast forward to today, full time in as a wedding/family photographer, and I can certainly say I figured it out. I figured out a path that got me every bullet point on my list. I work for myself. I get to travel to unbelievable places. I own my own photo studio. I get to inspire others through my artwork. And the money…boy has my mindset shifted since being a wee little teenager. The money, the ceiling-less income. I’m not capped by a salary, therefore, absolutely nobody can tell me my worth, but myself.

I figured it all out. I figured out how to get each of those things. And I truly have fallen in love with every aspect of it. I love waking up every single day and doing what I do. I love being creative. I love traveling and seeing new places through a lens. And above it all, I love being given the opportunity to share and inspire others with what I do.

Now, what I’ll do next is always a mystery. If you ask Phil, I have a new business idea in mind every other week. And he isn’t wrong. So we’ll just have to see where the future takes grown me.