I have struggled with the concept of business hours for a long time. I was so afraid that if I restricted the hours I was working that it would make a huge impact on my business. Then last year I made the decision to take Sundays off the table and have at least one committed family day a week, which was a huge step for me. I had previously found myself taking meetings and scheduling shoots at everyone else’s convenience but my own and it took a toll on me and my family. While Sundays have helped quite a bit, I still end up doing work things on Sundays, whether its admin work, emails, packaging, editing, etc…. and as many of the people in the wedding industry know winter may technically be the “off-season” but it is “engagement season”; which means LOTS of meetings….
Lately I have been gone for one reason or another almost every single night for a few weeks straight. Last night really hit home for me… I had a meeting cancel which meant I was actually home for my daughter to go to bed for once in a long while. I was so excited to be part of bath, bedtime and reading her stories…. then it happened. I put her in her bed, kissed her goodnight, sang her a song and went to leave her room. As I was walking out she goes, “Bye Mommy, have a good meeting….. I liked tonight”. I turned the corner and simply just sat at the top of the stairs for a minute with a bit of a broken heart. My own daughter has gotten used to the fact that her mom isn’t home at night. Heartbreaking right?!?!
So I’m taking a big leap and making some changes to my business hours…. by actually putting some into place. Going forward I am only going to be having 2-3 evenings open a week and one to two Saturdays per month for client meetings.
I’m looking forward to having a healthy work/life balance and am so thankful for the support of my friends, family and clients as we make this change!
Speaking of changes….. Stay tuned for all the good things to come in 2014 for us, starting with the hiring of our support staff!! Can’t wait to finish finding the perfect people so I can share their faces with you!
