Changes

So I hinted a few posts back that big changes were coming and in this post I'm hopefully going to explain it all. It might be quite a long post so if you make it to the end then I'm really glad you stuck around haha!

I'll start at the beginning. When I started my self employed life I had this blog and my photography business, where I photograph families, weddings events etc. At the time I was happy to keep them quite separate as they were completely different and I though no more of it.

Fast forward to March 4th this year and I met with a fellow local photographer. It was so lovely to meet someone so like minded and we chatted ideal clients, photography and all things business. She then asked me how I juggle my blog and business and I said in all honesty I don't. One tends to slip if I focus on the other and when you add maintaining social media and Instagram well I was a little hugely overwhelmed. She said to me why don't you combine them. I brushed it off thinking that it wouldn't work. And said no more, but it played on my mind a little.

I threw myself into blogging and joined a few "blogger" groups on Facebook. The group was set up to support fellow bloggers and it seemed like such a great group. People would post what they had achieved and people would talk stats. Blog stats were a huge thing, having a large following, huge page views were all deemed to be successful. I got caught up in this and set myself huge, in-achievable targets of course I didn't meet a single one of these and felt a bit down. Why weren't I seeing huge improvements like everyone else. I was writing 3 posts a week, juggling my business and more importantly looking after a demanding toddler. Most nights I would be exhausted an in need of a break but I would push myself further because that is what everyone else was doing.

A couple of lovely people I follow on Twitter started tweeting about Podcasts and in particular Me & Orla. Oh wow. I was feeling inspired. It made me realise that my passion is photography first and foremost. I used to do a 365, producing a thought out photo everyday, which was much harder before Instagram and good phone photography. Creating beautiful images is what I am all about and I adore writing too I was letting SEO and stats take over. I then listened to Jen Carrington's Make It Happen podcasts and it changed my creative mind again. She talks about seasons of hustle and seasons of rest. She talks about creating a working week that works for you and more importantly she talks a lot about not comparing your situation to others. Then suddenly something just clicked in my mind.

I'd lost myself.

Blogging was a creative outlet and it had stopped being that. It became a chore. I was accepting things that I didn't really like just to be doing something or to get in with PR's. This group had taken over. I decided that I didn't want it anymore. And then the idea of combining everything came back to me. Why not combine it all? Why not share our family days out, and instead of churning recipes out I want to really work on them and develop them. I want to take better photographs of the food. I want to bring back myself to my blog.

I want to combine my photography into my blog and my e-courses and eventually I want to do workshops and write e-books. I've never felt so inspired. I've let go of stats and feeling pressured and starting to produce content that I really love. I hope you can stick by me with this huge journey.

So that's what's happening. A new logo, a new website and a new attitude. I'm so excited for things to get going but a little nervous too. I can't wait to launch it all. So watch this space.

I can't wait to start this new chapter.