2024 - a full year of full time and the year my business had a huge level up....
For me, 2024 has hands down, been the BEST year - personally it has had a lot of highlights, but my business has gone from strength to strength and I couldn't be happier!
Thinking back to this time last year, I was entering the new year with worries - I had recently left my employed job in October, had a positively successful Christmas season, but now the nerves kicked in - what will my first year of full time business bring and more importantly - can I do this?
Well, let's take a recap over the past year and how this has led me to where I am today (don't worry, I'll try to keep it short!)
2024 has very much been a year of finding my feet in my new full time business journey. January saw me attend a huge photographer's convention in Bristol run by GATHER TO GROW, a weekend of seminars, talks, learning from experts but also meeting lots of fellow photographers from across the country. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and came away feeling so inspired, driven and with a hugely positive mindset, was ready to take 2024 by the horns. This one workshop has influenced a lot of my work and the changes I have made to my business this year, giving it a huge level up and growth that I wanted to achieve but couldn't give the time to previously.
Throughout the year, I have attended a large number of other workshops (a couple of practical and lots of business themed) both in person and online, with each one helping me to learn and grow within my business. I want to give a shout out to Rebecca Cracknell (find her over on Instagram), who has championed me as a business owner the past couple of years - she always makes me feel inspired and gives me a much needed boost and clarity when the self doubt creeps in and things become foggy, especially with social media!
The start of the year also brought up a few challenges - the small handful of baby and toddler groups I had built up relationships with and had been collaborating for shoots slowly closed. I had no groups to visit and bring my pop up studio - this is one of the key ways I meet my new clients and spread the all important word about who I am and what I do. But with persistence and determination, I made enquiries, pushing myself to make contact with groups, even though it isn't always the easiest thing to do! I am so proud to say that from having none of my original groups I now have three amazing groups I regularly visit and work with, each bringing their own unique activities and styles to baby and children's classes, along with establishing a connection with a local nursery and visiting them for photo sessions, which was another one of my goals for 2024. Please do check out Noise Makers St Albans, Socatots St Albans and Yoganic with Anna (all on social media) as I cannot recommend these groups enough!
The biggest change of 2024 has been the huge 'glow up' and makeover of my studio space. I won't go into detail here as there is another blog post dedicated to this makeover (read it here), but having this refresh I have worked so hard on has given me a reignited passion of working within my little space - I feel so proud to welcome you all here and can't wait to see you all again during 2025!
Another goal of mine for the year was to make more connections with other local businesses and collaborate with others - I love supporting fellow small businesses and feel it's important to help each other as best we can. I have attended numerous networking events and meet ups, meeting so many new business owners along the way, who I have loved working with and can't wait to work with again. I have even more collaborations coming up for 2025 which I am so excited for, I can't wait for you all to see these on the socials too.
I have also built up friendships with other local photographers (something I was keen to continue this year as this work can sometimes feel lonely) who have been hugely supportive of each other. We now have regular chats in WhatsApp groups, coffee catch ups in cafe's and in our studios, helping each other along the way.
2024 was also the year of beginning to establish a work/life balance - for far too long, I was juggling part time employment, my photography business and being a mother, with very little time for myself and to work on my own wellbeing.
I haven't quite got it how I want it just yet, but this year I have not only invested in my skills, business and craft but also begun to invest in myself - prioritising time for work and life tasks, but also creating pockets of time for myself - whether that's social coffee catch ups with others or simply watching a film at home with a cuppa! I plan to work on this more in the new year, making sure that I dedicate time to recharge to help the positive mindset when things might seem to be moving too fast or there's so much to do!
You may be thinking 'she hasn't talked much about photography'...that's for a good reason - I wanted to leave the best for last!
This year I have welcomed so many lovely clients to my studio, capturing newborns, babies, birthdays, families, celebrations and headshots, along with events, parties and weddings in and around Hertfordshire. I have surpassed the numbers of previous years' sessions beyond expectation, with this Christmas breaking records for the number of families that visited me to capture their festive moments.
I am genuinely so happy to work with you in every session I capture; to welcome back those of you who have been once, twice or lots of times over the years, but also seeing new faces and meeting your babies. Creating memories is, I believe, the most important thing we can do for our children and for ourselves. It's part of our legacy and heritage, passed on to each generation. When you book a session, you're not just investing in that hour with me - you're investing in something that will live with you forever. I am so honoured to create that with you - so I want to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to every single one of you who chooses me to do this.
Without you all I couldn't do what I love and create the life I want to lead, a million times over, thank you so much for all of your support.
Wishing you all the best year ahead, I hope it brings you everything you hoped for,
Love Fallon xx
