Let's talk about the cost of running a business, the hats we wear, and TIME.

You might think $600 bucks is a lot to spend on family photos. Yeah it is! I'm booked most weekends and guess what, those are most people's two favorite days of the week. It happens to be a day I work. Additionally, there's more work. The emailing, texts, guiding, and oh the big one: editing. This takes a long time to process and individually sort photos, choose the best, then go on and edit and fine tune each image. Hours and hours and hours, people.

I am also a website designer, (I say that jokingly, because I'm actually far from one but here I am, running a website and blog!) and it has taken me hours and DAYS to put together. I'm also head of HR. If you don't like something, then I'm the girl you go to. I'm the CEO and founder, founded in 2015. Your kids new best friend and basically a weird party clown at photoshoots to get you all comfortable. There's a lot of hats, I don't just take photos and go on with my day. I research and edit SEO, and meticulously craft my marketing and social media. Let’s not forget advertising or booking platforms, and storage space for files. There are a lot of late hours, missed parties, family outings, and more that I miss out on. Oh I forgot to mention, my favorite job title though: stay at home mom, who does all this when the baby doesn't need my milk or after my 4 year old finally falls asleep at 9:02pm.

Now let's talk CODB. That stands for could olways do better. I'm kidding. Cost of doing business. Monthly or yearly accounts and subscriptions to SqaureSpace, Photoshop Lightroom and Pic-Time (yes, the beautiful gallery site you receive your photos on, not cheap!) These are just to name a few. Cameras, lenses, gear, softwares, and gear repair are a few of the other obvious money suckers. Lastly, my favorite. Workshops. I love a workshop and walk away with so much new information, tips, tricks and inspiration. These cost in the thousands + travel but keep me on my toes for staying true to my best work and performance. It's been about 5 years since I've attended a workshop (all wedding related) and this year I'm heading out to the northwest coast for a family photography workshop for 3 days. I'm geeked!

What do you think? I know people who will only pay $200 for a family session, and some who pay in the thousands. I think my price is right :)