Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Every family knows the struggles of trying to get this one right. This job does give me a lot of flexibility. I’m able to have two days at home with my son George during the week. This is great as my bookings tend to be at the weekend. Luckily I have a supportive, awesome husband who can pick up where I need to leave off. I do a lot of my editing and communication when George has gone to bed at night, and cram a lot into the days he is at daycare. Sometimes I’ll get them to come along with me on shoots at more exciting locations. They head off in one direction and I’ll go in the other with the clients, and then we catch up at the end and get some family time.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Probably the biggest one is learning to switch off. It’s easy to be drawn into answering messages from prospective clients at 10 pm at night and letting a whole evening pass by whilst editing, then you realise that you can’t actually live and breathe the business the whole time. It’s important to take breaks and be in the moment.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
You have flexibility and answer (mostly) just to yourself. Although this can sometimes be a double-edged sword. You don’t have the relaxation of a set paycheck arriving in your account each month, and you don’t have a whole group of colleagues to yarn with and discuss MAFS with each morning. It can get lonely. It’s important to form your own network of people and to keep yourself self-motivated. You also have to be your own IT person, and restrain yourself from throwing your computer out the window when it’s being annoying and you have tried googling every answer under the sun.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
Continue to grow – followers, advocates, and my own learning. I’m already doing my dream job, so I just want to continue doing what it is I love the most.
Enjoy Hannah’s photographs on her website, as well as on Facebook and Instagram.
