So its been 7 months as a full time photographer and stay at home business owner. As a husband and wife wedding photography team, our wedding industry friends constantly ask ,“how do you guy do it?” The quick answer is… It just works out some how. 9 times out of 10 we’re just making stuff up as we go, but I wanted to share some of our knowledge for you photogs who are thinking of having a baby.
I think the first question most people want to know is how do you time getting pregnant with your wedding schedule. This is a very hard question. One thing we didn’t realize is how hard it was to get pregnant. With most photographers, we book weddings a year out. Sometimes more! So how do you plan being pregnant with a booked schedule so far out? For us the best we could come up with was, shooting for a break in our schedule OR shooting for a time where we wouldn’t mind a break. That means mid to late summer. That Alabama heat is brutal! So we were fine preplanning for a lighter summer. In some of the southern states you may not have an off season like most places. For us down here, the only real off season is December to March. So we had to TRY to make a block for a baby. Again, this is really hard because actually getting pregnant can take months. So just do what you can and try to plan but that’s the best you can do.
Next up, make sure you have help when you do get pregnant. The first 12 weeks are pretty brutal for moms-to-be. Typically you get exhausted from doing nothing! Not to mention the “morning sickness”, which is actually all day sickness “OH JOY!”. So add in a 10 hour work day carrying 10+ lbs of camera gear and you can imagine how hard it is. So having someone to help you out will be crucial. If you aren’t a husband and wife team, try finding a second shooter or assistant to help you out until you get the hang of things. Like I said, around week 12 of being preggers that tired feeling and nausea should go away and you should be able to handle things on your own.
Letting your clients know. After the 12 week mark it might be a good idea to let your clients know about your big news!!! Reassure them that you have a good back up plan in case anything happens. You don’t want to scare your clients (or yourself) but making sure you have a backup photographer is a good idea, god forbid anything happen to jeopardize your ability to shoot their big day. Make sure that you have a good communication with your clients and that way it’s the last thing you have to worry about. I know our clients were very happy, accommodating and understanding after we shared the news with them.
For us everything was smooth sailing throughout the pregnancy. For the most part I felt fine and wedding days weren’t that bad. I worked all the way up until 10 days before my due date and Started back working 3 weeks after delivery. I don’t recommend cutting it that close though!!! Those weddings at the end about killed me and the ones after delivery were even worse. But it can be done. Just know your limits and hire even a 3rd shooter if you need to.
Our second most asked question is how do you do it now that the baby is here? How do you get work done being at home and having a new born. Honestly, that was the hardest part. Having a baby flips your flow upside down. Everything you once did, now has to be done another way. What I mean is, you can’t just sit down and edit whenever you want. You can’t even really sleep when you want. Everything is on the baby’s schedule. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you’ll be able to get on a new workflow that makes everyones life easier. At the very minimum I’d wouldn’t do any work for 2-3 weeks. Have all those photos edited and that inbox cleared before the due date if you can. After that, have someone that can take over your inbox or Facebook if need be. But take the time off and don’t worry about anything but recovering and spending time with your new bundle of joy. The first few weeks are exhausting. You’re not sleeping, you’re not showering and your probably running to Taco Bell for every dinner. Im telling you, you’re life does a complete 180!!!
After a few weeks things will start falling into place and you will figure out your new “normal”. You’ll soon find that you can answer emails during baby napes. But right when you think “man, this is easy,” your schedule flips AGAIN. Having a baby defiantly keep you on your toes!!! So the newborn stage doesn’t last very long. Those frequent naps start to dwindle and that not so needy baby becomes very hands on. They want to move and explore.
Honestly, this was one of the more challenging aspects of being a stay at home parent and running a full time business. Maintaining the life of entrepreneur and parent was really hard to figure out. I wanted to work as much as I did pre-baby. But I also wanted to be there for our new son and spend time with him. Finding that balance was hard!!! And we’ve really just started to figure out how it works for us. This is going to be different for everyone but here’s what we did.
First, outsourcing a lot of our workflow was a HUGE help. I really don’t know how I would’ve maintained our business without outsourcing. We outsourced editing and album design. Two of the biggest time suckers! We use Photographers Edit for editing and KISS for our album design.
Second, getting baby Jax on a moderately strict schedule. Naps, bottles, baths and playtime – all were scheduled out. This might seem nuts but it really helped our day flow so much better. We knew exactly what Jax should be doing at what time. Meaning we knew exactly when we could fit in work. The book on Becoming Baby Wise taught us a good bit. Jax soon started following this schedule with out us doing anything. Like clock work, Jax would wake up 8 then eat, play for an hour, go back down for a nap for an hour and a half. (i’ll spare you the full schedule) but you get the idea. We knew when we needed to be parents and when we needed to be entrepreneurs. Knowing Jax’s schedule meant knowing exactly what work I could get done between naps or when he was playing by himself. Like right now, he’s down for a nap – I know that I have 45 minutes to finish and upload this blog or it will have to wait until the next nap.
To add onto the previous paragraph – Using my time efficiently made sure I got the most amount of work done possible in short spirts. For instance, while feeding Jax I knew that I could answer emails on my phone before he finished OR I knew that Jax’s naps are usually 2 hours. I can cull a wedding if need be. I scheduled out each day and made the to-do’s light. This way I felt accomplished even though the workload might not be as much as Im used to.
Lastly, know when it’s time to shut down the computer. This is very hard for us creatives! We want to work and create all the time. Having a little baby will impede that. But try to remember, your little one will only be little for so long. I hardly even remember how small Jax was until I look back at the photos and that was just 7 months ago. Now he’s crawling, holding his own bottle and starting to babble! It’s crazy! So remember above all else, be a parent!
I hope these tips helped you!
