Toss these briefcases out the window and overlook the fluorescent-lit drudgery of boardrooms as a result of my nine-to-five is something however beige! (If you already know, you already know.) As a luxurious pet photographer in Pittsburgh, my workweek is way from peculiar. Routine? Certain, however solely within the sense that I name the pictures. No day is ever the identical, and that’s precisely how I prefer it. My days are a well-choreographed faucet dance between high-powered collaboration and mastering the artwork of the “down” and “roll over” to really get on my purchasers’ degree (fairly actually).
Questioning what precisely that appears like? Nicely, prepare for a high-level peek at my week as a luxurious pet photographer the place the one deadlines are deal with breaks and the one stress is the mild nudge of Hunter’s moist snow nostril towards my leg asking to return exterior for the sixty fourth time in an hour.
Saturday: the Chameleon of the Week
Not like weekdays with their pretty predictable routines, Saturdays embrace a hodgepodge of exercise, a dance between construction and spontaneity, accountability and recharge. Generally they daybreak with the acquainted hum of managing my appointments and on-line calendars, guaranteeing the week forward flows easily. On different weeks, they unfold with the leisurely shuffle of errands or early mornings that stretch on in my comfiest gown and Sherpa-lined slippers as I bask in that much-needed uninterrupted me-time, at all times between the hours of 5-8 a.m.
However the enjoyable of Saturdays lies of their unpredictability.
This explicit Saturday began with the standard errands, navigating the mundane with the effectivity of a productiveness ninja. However past the guidelines, this morning held a deeper function: reining in my schedule. Boundaries are my greatest pal, and I kicked off my day like I do every Saturday by updating my calendars, carving out clear areas for pre-session consultations, ordering appointments, and paintings pickups. Management fanatic? Perhaps. Zen grasp of time administration? Completely.
My inner go-button often requires a herculean effort to modify off, or relatively to show down the dial, as a result of I’m unsure I’m able to ever totally silencing my thoughts’s to-do checklist. Not that I’m actually fascinated about doing so. Whereas most wouldn’t contemplate work stress-free, for me, it’s a state of circulate, a satisfying hum of exercise. This implies true leisure, in its extra mainstream definition, appears like an alien idea to my overactive thoughts; nonetheless, I’ll admit that I fairly benefit from the satisfying process of refilling our outside hen feeders. Watching nature’s feathered associates flit in for a snack is a private type of remedy, a stark distinction to the seed-pilfering squirrels I’ve been grumbling at via the feeder’s hen cam app.
By late afternoon, it was time to shift gears as soon as extra for a session in Schenley Plaza with Levi, an eight-year-old husky with eyes as blue as a glacier and an “awrooo” with the potential to soundtrack one million canine deal with commercials. As quickly as I met him, I couldn’t wait to interrupt out my bells and whistles and get right down to enterprise, not solely as a result of Levi was so good-looking and filled with persona, however as a result of I used to be wielding my brand-new Nikon Z8.
Bought simply over per week in the past, this was its first shopper session baptism by hearth, and let me let you know, it was epic. The animal eye focus? Insane. Capturing Levi’s playful bounds in motion? Easy. And seeing these crisp, clear pictures materialize within the viewfinder precisely as I noticed them in the meanwhile I shot? Magical.
Once I acquired house from my session, I imported my pictures into Lightroom, did a fast two-round cull earlier than enhancing two for my editor, Christina, to make use of as a reference level, and despatched the remaining ones off to her for colour correction. Sure, I’m a kind of photographers who defies the stereotype of limitless enhancing and late nights due to the facility of outsourcing, clear boundaries, and an outstanding group that has helped me to optimize my workflow and schedule to make sure I can prioritize each work and my bedtime. I like that my power stays targeted on what issues most, not drowning in post-processing. I suppose you’ll be able to say it’s Z8 by day, Zzzs by 8 p.m.
Sunday: Mirror, Restructure, Repeat
Ah, Sunday mornings. For many, they’re a time for snooze buttons and low, however for me, it’s a mix of quiet reflection and strategic planning. I accumulate mugs of natural tea on my desk as I time block my week, analyze wins, assess challenges, and glean beneficial classes from the prior one, organized inside the confines of a refined Craft template. This isn’t work, it’s an funding in my sanity, my creativity, my success, and in the end the distinctive service I present to my purchasers. By carving out this time, I construct a basis for per week that flows with effectivity and intention.
Sunday mornings are additionally reserved for shopper ordering appointments and paintings pick-ups. This week, Oliver’s mother, Cathy, stopped by my portrait suite to gather her boy’s attractive gold leaf deckled edge high-quality artwork print completed in a contemporary two-tone gold and oak handcrafted body. We caught up on life since final seeing one another, chatted all issues senior canines, and collectively gushed over how freaking good her new wall artwork piece goes to look in her house.
Monday: Elevate and Collaborate
Whereas many might affiliate their Mondays with breakroom espresso and tunnel visitors commutes, I usually discover myself immersed in studying, inspiration, and neighborhood, and this Monday was no exception.
My workday kicked off with Elevate lifelines, providing Elevators one-on-one laser-focused recommendation on pricing, processes, and workflow, and tackling these pesky cash demons head-on. Lifelines are like having a private pit crew in your pictures enterprise, guaranteeing it’s working easily and able to zoom previous any challenges! Witnessing every photographer’s “aha!” moments and their strategic shifts: stable gold.
Shortly after wrapping up my final lifeline of the morning, I jumped into the Hair of the Canine Academy’s 50K Membership co-working name. Consider it as a digital coworking house for pet photographers, buzzing with creativity, challenges, and high-fives wherein we share wins, sort out hurdles, and gas one another’s hustle like no person’s enterprise. Throughout this over two-hour name, I zoned in particularly on reconciling my accounts, which I do each— what I wish to name—”Cash Monday”, taking good care of month-to-month gross sales tax funds, scheduling this yr’s Biggies Bullies pet calendar contest winners’ classes, and a little bit of content material creation.
From there, I instantly logged into Elevate’s six-figure name, a mastermind-type assembly particularly designed for photographers navigating the world of six-figure companies. We plunged into the trenches, tackling high-level struggles like scaling companies, attracting dream purchasers, and mastering the artwork of delegation. For this month’s name, we opened with a dialogue on end-of-life business-related insurance policies earlier than the dialog transitioned to exploring the ideas behind when folks’s perceptions of us don’t mirror who we actually are and the disconnect between who we expect we’re and the way others understand us. This dialog has been a robust reminder that we’re not remoted in our experiences and a nod to the universality of human expertise, even in its more difficult features.
I had a little bit of downtime to seize lunch and put collectively some enrichment video games for Hunter earlier than I traded my pc for skates and headed to the rink for a couple of hours of determine skating teaching. (Do you know that about me? That I coach skating as nicely?) The rink is way out of your typical workplace; my fingers ache protests beneath layers of gloves, the air hangs crisp, the silence punctuated by the rhythmic press of blades into the ice. It’s a continuing battle towards the chilly that nips at fingers, toes, and noses. The debilitating Arctic-like weariness is actual, however on the finish of hours on the ice, there’s a distinct sort of fatigue that settles: the satisfying ache of muscle mass pushed to their limits and the candy exhaustion of witnessing potential bloom into actuality. As a result of teaching skating isn’t nearly clear jumps and centered spins. It’s about constructing resilience, nurturing ardour, and instructing life classes disguised as crossovers and edgework to my younger skaters. It’s about watching them fall, choose themselves up, and check out once more, a bit stronger, a bit braver, every time.
A steaming cup of scorching chocolate, a pink and gold glitter tub bomb soak, and a comfy blanket made all of the cozier by Hunter’s weight are my rewards earlier than I hit the lights for my traditional 8 p.m. bedtime. Early nights might not sound glamorous, however to me, it’s the last word luxurious! What can I say: my soul is 85, my physique simply hasn’t caught up.
Tuesday: Crafting Compelling Content material
Whereas Tuesdays are usually pretty open for me, an intentional option to align with my values of freedom and adaptability, this Tuesday morning started with the acquainted clickety-clack of my keyboard as I banged out my Furiday Favorites e mail, a bi-weekly e-newsletter delivered to my VIP subscribers. It’s a strategic touchpoint, fastidiously crafted to domesticate engagement and nurture relationships inside my neighborhood. (And hey, when you’d like to affix in on the enjoyable and obtain your twice-a-month dose of Bark & Gold goodness, go forward and subscribe riiight right here.)
Mid-morning, I mic’d up for a podcast interview with Tori Mistick, host of the Put on Wag Repeat podcast, who prolonged an invite a couple of months in the past to affix her for an episode that may air this March. It’s one in every of two interviews targeted on the March theme of cash, the opposite that includes my pal and Revenue First coach, Kristen Ricupero.
Being considerably aware of the pet calendar contests I run yearly in help of Biggies Bullies and listening to good issues from the lots of of different photographers all over the world who’ve taken my Information to Profitable Pet Calendar Contests course, Tori noticed the proper match between this charitable advertising and marketing challenge and its impactful contributions to animal rescue. We mentioned the ins and outs of working a profitable contest, from advertising and marketing to neighborhood engagement to how these calendar contests translate into actual, lifesaving assist for animals in want. I’ll be shouting it from the rooftops (or at the least via Fb and Instagram posts) when my episode goes reside in a couple of weeks, however to make sure you don’t miss its rollout, I encourage you to observe and subscribe to the Put on Wag Repeat podcast in your favourite podcast app as nicely.
Within the night, I headed to my portrait suite for one more shopper paintings pickup, this time for Anthony who got here by for his high-quality artwork album, barnwood spherical, portrait trio, and matted present prints. There’s one thing magically significant about seeing my purchasers open their paintings for the primary time and witnessing the fruits of shared imaginative and prescient, the second captured feelings discover their bodily kind. It’s about connecting with folks and translating their tales into one thing to final the remainder of their lives.
Each whisker, each playful glint in your canine’s eyes, each quirk of his posture: these particulars, so acquainted in on a regular basis life, are one way or the other magnified as tangible artwork, sparking a wellspring of recollections and deepening the emotional connection you share. Tears usually nicely up, not simply from the great thing about the paintings, however from the overwhelming wave of affection, gratitude, and a renewed appreciation for the enjoyment they carry to your world that washes over you. It’s a poignant reminder of the irreplaceable bond you share, a bond that has discovered a permanent expression on this piece of artwork, which guarantees to carry pleasure and luxury for years to return.
Wednesday Wellness: Cracking the Code on Self-Care
Wednesday dawned with two appointments devoted to the well-oiled machine behind the lens: a bi-weekly chiropractor go to and a calming therapeutic massage. All that enjoyable of canine pictures comes with a bodily toll: contorting my physique into unusual angles, carrying heavy tools, and spending hours on my ft. Self-care isn’t a luxurious, it’s a non-negotiable for me, and people month-to-month (typically bi-weekly) massages are my comfortable hour. As a pet photographer, my work calls for each bodily and emotional power, so guaranteeing my physique correct care is an expert accountability. Changes deal with the bodily calls for of performing my personal set of tips as I undertake awkward postures and fast actions to maintain tempo together with your canines’ boundless enthusiasm whereas common massages promote flexibility and restoration from repetitive actions, stopping accidents that might disrupt shopper classes. That, or I’m half Golden Retriever, as a result of let’s be trustworthy, I secretly reside for these lengthy, loving strokes.
I made it house simply in time, hair slicked with scrumptious frankincense leisure, with the clock ticking right down to the Elevate e-book membership assembly for 10x Is Simpler Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Obtain Extra by Doing Much less by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. The e-book’s core message—that aiming for 10x development will be simpler than 2x by specializing in leverage and strategic motion—resonated with biiig emotions, particuarly the deal with outsourcing. The room buzzed with shared experiences, questions, and techniques for letting go of non-CEO duties, or actually, any duties you don’t love. It wasn’t nearly time (although, hellooo, extra time for massages!), it was about freedom: freedom to create, to develop, to chase that elusive entrepreneurial dream life…whereas smelling faintly of lavender oil. Might all of us do much less, obtain extra, and keep in mind that typically the largest leaps come from letting go. (And perhaps scheduling one other therapeutic massage.)
A short intro name with a brand new lead seeking to e-book a session for her three canines rounded out the day earlier than a night wherein a dose of pure downtime was simply the ticket. Oh, and catching up on some Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and The Worth is Proper at Evening. My husband calls them my “applications,” however hey, a bit wheelin’ and dealin’ by no means did anybody incorrect!
Thursday: Discovering Pleasure in an Open Calendar
Thursdays often carry a whirlwind of exercise, however this week, my calendar conspired to provide me a candy shock: a light-weight day! As an alternative of the standard back-to-back conferences and a night pictures session, my afternoon held only one to-do: a Flourish Academy Elevate name. The decision opened with the assumption that we “must be additional alongside,” and what enterprise and life would appear like when you merely couldn’t assume that thought, extra particularly who you’d be with out that thought.
The afternoon is a watercolor wash of blue-gray, good for curling up with a gentle blanket and a loud night breathing canine (or a superb e-book if stated canine decides snuggles are overrated). With the remainder of the day unexpectedly free, I did precisely that. Generally, a light-weight schedule is the last word productiveness booster, and after I don’t struggle that open calendar house too a lot, a observe in chillpreneuring. An ironic thought for somebody who resonates deeply with “I consider it’s potential to waste time.”
Friday: a Blended Bag of Exercise
Friday’s closing paintings pickup revealed a bit that elicited a smile as breathtaking as the 2 pups it featured. Jessie and Bo Peep’s mother Christy’s eyes lit up when she noticed their beautiful framed high-quality artwork print and matted present prints for the primary time. Her pleasure was infectious, and listening to that she already had the proper spot picked out in her workplace made my morning. It’s these moments—witnessing the enjoyment my artwork brings to purchasers—that really makes what I accomplish that significant.
Friday afternoons are my “lengthy day” on the rink, a cold extension to my day that gained’t see me house till late night. It’s a chronic model of my Monday afternoon freeze-fest as I companion the boys via their intricate ice dance patterns and assist with group classes. Certain, I’ll be exhausted by the tip of these 4 hours, but it surely’s well worth the frostbitten ft and fingers. Now, when you’ll excuse my swish (or not-so-graceful) exit, I’m off to commerce clicks for toe picks…
Discover one thing lacking from my schedule? Oh, a session with you and your canine? We will change that! Merely select your journey to start.