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SIX YEARS OF SHY HEART STUDIOS
Blogging with Brianna • Jun 15, 2021
SIX YEARS OF SHY HEART STUDIOS
Blogging with Brianna
Jun 15, 2021
I can’t believe we launched Shy Heart Studios just over six years ago now. I’ve never focused on our anniversary until this year…. year six. That was not intentional, I just didn’t think much of it and was always too busy in January every year to give it any thought.
I have been photographing weddings for 12 years! That’s an even crazier number to me. In those first 6 years I picked up a few shoots on my own, but mostly worked for other photographers and even had a business partnership for a couple of years. I was grappling with whether to put my energy into someone else’s business, or pursue my own path. Even though there was a “partnership”, that business belonged to someone else and I was never in control of anything. I thought, at the time, that I needed a boss. I needed someone to keep me accountable. I didn’t really feel like I had the ability to be anyone’s boss, let alone my own. But as time went on, I realized I was so wrong about that. There was something unsettled within me throughout those years with that “partnership”; something missing; something that just didn’t feel right.
In 2014 the door to my future opened. I ran through it… I didn’t have time to put on running shoes, I went barefoot, and had no idea where I was going, but I knew I had to just keep running. I feared blisters on my feet would stop me, but instead calluses formed and protected me. Throughout that year I just went for it and by the end of it, I was building a team. In January of 2015 Shy Heart Studios was officially launched and we have never looked back.
Most businesses fail in the first 5 years. This is probably not news to anyone… I actually never worried about this. I never thought for a second, once we got moving, that we’d fail. I did, of course, fear that when I first went running barefoot out that door… but once the momentum picked up, I didn’t ever see it stopping. Maybe that was naivety, or perpetual ignorant optimism… or maybe it’s what kept me moving. I don’t know! What I do know is that we made it through those first 5 years but in year 5 we hit a hurdle that I wouldn’t have anticipated in a million years: COVID-19.
How did we survive last year? How are we still going? In large part we are still going because of the way I prepared my business for disaster. I never thought it would actually happen, but I prepared for it anyway. I had many tears in 2020 over many things including fear, anxiety, stress over my business. I felt like I was failing. I felt like I was losing something I worked so hard to build. My dream. But I wasn’t. I didn’t. I had a rock bottom moment and the stubborn side of me slapped myself across the face, and said get the hell up and keep it moving. The other large part of our lack of failure – was my team. Namely, Elaine, Ann and Alex – my core team that works the inside and behind the scenes details of this business. They kept going and kept helping this company move through such an incredibly difficult time
The future for Shy Heart Studios is bright. I am more focused and have more energy than I ever have. I’m excited about what is to come, and can’t wait to share our continued journey and growing success.
Cheers to SIX years and counting! Here are images of our team from a shoot we did last week. We photographed each other, and used a tripod for our team shots, and we had a blast.
I can guarantee you that these women are as wonderful as they look. Don’t we have a beautiful team!? I am so proud of each of them and so grateful to them. Two of our 2nd photographers were unable to make the session, but are just as wonderful and valued as all of these ladies.
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With love and gratitude all day every day,
Brianna.
Lindsay & Jesse at The University Club
New Paragraph
New Paragraph
After a year like 2020 I’ve decided there’s only one way to go… and that way is up. Bigger. Better. More successful. There are no other options.
Prior to 2020 had you ever heard the words “Micro Wedding” ? No? that’s because 2020, and the global pandemic invented them!
TA couple of weeks ago I was stumped on what to blog about, so I put a poll out on Instagram to see if anyone would share some things they’d like to have me touch on in my Blog. I got some really great suggestions! I still ran out of time to blog that day… and the next… and the next… but here we are. I finally have found some time!
This is a super insulting question to ask anyone in the creative field. So just …. don’t. Instead – read this blog and share it with those who would like a better understanding of what goes into pricing with things like wedding photography or family photography.
Well… this blog post was started a week ago. I stopped mid sentence to run to the hospital with my sister because they wanted to run a stress test on her because she was 9 months pregnant and the babies heart rate was a bit low at her appointment that day. They sent her home from the hospital that afternoon, but at 11pm that night we were back and it was baby time! My precious new little nephew was born just before 6am on Tuesday morning. It was a LONG night and my first night ever away from Brynlee. She was not happy about it and gave her Dad a run for his money.