As a business owner who also passionately follows Jesus, I look at a lot of things in my business with a wildly different perspective than most small business owners. I truly believe that each couple brought into my business is brought to me for a reason. As their wedding photographer, I am given the unique opportunity to impact, serve, and help them in a way that most people can’t at a unique time in their lives. This is why I value my relationships with my clients so highly and why I love developing a friendship past just showing up and shooting their wedding. I truly love giving my clients a “boutique” wedding experience. This specialized experience I give my couples comes from a deeper understanding, though, and not merely just because I picked that business model.

This comes from a deeper place of putting my business in God’s hands, and letting Him work through me. It’s truly amazing the incredible things that He’s already done through me for His glory. He has allowed me to create friendships with my couples, encourage them in their marriage, and point them back towards Jesus (how incredible is that?!). I would be lying, though, if I said that came without struggles. This challenges me to trust God, His timing, and His goodness through it all. Further, it’s a constant battle between working hours upon hours every week to grow my business (everything from booking more clients, going through courses, taking care of my bookkeeping, gathering everything for taxes, writing blog posts, curating my social media, answering emails daily… if you haven’t picked up, this is just a sliver of what I do every week!) and, on the other hand, trusting that God is also going to bring me the couples who I am designed to serve well.

If I’m being honest, it’s not easy. There are many days of wanting more… more clients to serve, more time to work… It’s so challenging to constantly be working in your business, but also realize that God will bring you who you are intended to serve. It’s hard. But when I make myself stop and realize all the big things He can do with my little business if I let go control, WOW. It’s not only FREEING, but He does SO MUCH more than I could every imagine. It blows me away. It allows me to LIVE and truly make an impact far greater than I can do in my own strength.

Sometimes, giving this control to Jesus means making decisions in my business that doesn’t make sense for my bottom line. Sometimes, it means pouring everything I have mentally, emotionally, and physically into a wedding day and crashing for a week so that the couple feels so served, loved, and cared for… because I believe this at the core of who I am. It’s WORTH IT. So worth it. And it brings me a joy that’s overflowing. Impacting my couples in bigger ways is incredibly more rewarding than any amount of clients or dollars in my bank account will ever give.