Thoughts on Starting Over | upland family photographer

My photography business began eight years ago with a handful of clients and a lot of ambition. I spent hours in online photography forums, weeks perfecting my branding, and months setting up booths at school auctions to get my name out to the masses. And steadily, my business grew. And grew. It was a significant source of income, but not our primary source, as my husband and I still felt our calling was to serve the local church.

So when he was led to a new ministry position in another state, I felt excited, even knowing my business had to relocate. While I mourned the loss of my clients and presence in the community that had helped me grow over the last eight years, I thought I could restart in our new city after we got settled. I don’t think I ever fully engaged with the idea that I would be starting over, because I was just “relocating.” After all, I knew photography, I had a great website, a productive workflow, and if it’s built they will come, right? Wrong.

Along with obtaining all my business licenses again, getting a local number, changing my google business location, etc, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was starting over. There were tears. So speaking from experience, here are four tips when you have to start over. Going back to a place you’ve already been and progressed past can be depressing, but it doesn’t have to be.

1. Take the time to look at other options. After we moved, and reality set in that it would be a while before I was making the kind of income I had in Houston, I googled “jobs in inland empire.” Seriously. I looked at all kinds of postings, and started to think about what kind of career I could pursue. Doing this only further confirmed that photography was my career. There was nothing out there that I could start tomorrow or next week or next month that had the benefits or the allure or that I just plain loved. It made me want to work harder to grow my business again.

2. Don’t look at it as starting over. Look at it as a FRESH START. You know SO much more now then you did then. Use your experience and increased knowledge to grow faster and smarter than you did previously.

3. Use this time for big projects like re-branding. I changed my logo, redid my website, switched over to a new proofing site, and updated all my portfolios…things I had been meaning to do for the past couple of years, but hadn’t made time for.

4. Don’t discount what you already built. The beauty of the time we live in is that connections can be maintained more easily than ever before. The client relationships I had built were still alive and strong even though I moved across the country. By maintaining my email data base and online presence, I’ve been able to return to Houston for sessions – just a three hour plane ride away – and that is a GIFT – but one that I worked hard for over the past eight years. Now, it’s providing a cushion during my “fresh start!”

If you’re in the hard place of your very own fresh start, whether by choice or by force, don’t be discouraged. Starting over is tough, but it can take you to places you never would have imagined if you hadn’t had the change in perspective.