Big week!!

I have beautiful new rechargeable batteries for my flash sitting ready to go in their fancy plastic case. It reads "Charged. Use me!" in brown sharpie. Draining the ones I had in there first. 

I have 3 new camera batteries charged and ready to go. Need to figure out which of my older ones I should just chuck.

I have 2 new empty memory cards waiting to be filled with hundreds of images . . . also need to chuck some old ones. I know I have one floating around here that doesn't even work. Why I keep putting it back in with the others? I don't know . . .

A new external hard drive, already loaded with the photos off my old laptop that will be laid to rest soon. (Can't believe it still turns on, honestly.) 

It's time.

My website is 90% complete. I have a loop of photos on the homepage that need updated. They are currently lovely stock photos. And I need to upload some galleries, which will take some time to sort through old photos to decide on what to showcase. 

and then  . . .

I go live. My website will be live by the end of the week. How cool is that? 

I showed it to a friend a couple days ago, and she told me she was proud of me. Put a smile on my face. (cue Barney song in my head)

Gave away a photo shoot at the benefit for Ashley Johns. Haven't heard anything yet. Hope they take me seriously! 

Going to offer discounted portfolio building mini shoots. Haven't decided how many. I will start booking for June. Nothing before then though, because holy busy! Gearing up for my brother's wedding at the beach. CANNOT WAIT! I'm soooo excited to shoot their wedding. It will be a great first post on my new blog. Oh yeah! New blog! My website is actually a blog and photography site all in one. No more blogspot.com for me. Well for my photography that is.

Can't wait to share the new site!! GET EXCITED!

Going to go drink a gallon of water and pass out so I can be disturbed by Ben. Wouldn't have it any other way . . . not.

ps. No logo yet. I have been working on it though. Just don't know what I did with that paper . . . lol.

Growing Respect . . . Web designers, I'm glad you enjoy it.

I am not technologically savvy. In fact I am using my sister's tablet and it takes me forever to post here. I go from 90 wpm to about (counting the words in my last sentence) 16 wpm. Or less . . .

ugh I can't even handle this post . . . to be continued on a laptop . . . when the kids fall asleep . . if.




So my website is going to take forever to design. Prophoto has amazing video tutorials, thank God, so I will successfully accomplish the look I want, but not quickly. My respect for web designers is growing with each and every task on my website. Blogger is simple. There are not too many things to customize and it is pretty straight forward. Not that prophoto isn't also laid out nicely, it's just new and I haven't learned my way around. I also get very few opportunities to really sit down and dedicate to learning. I should get off this thing, huh?

Progress this week on my wishlist:

#1, #3, and #4 DONE!

I just placed my amazon order for new cards and batteries and what not. Little essential upgrades I needed. Nothing terribly exciting.

I decided on Salt and Light Photography on Monday. I have the forms for registering the business printed out, but haven't filed yet. I'm going to file as a Sole Proprietorship FOR NOW. I will eventually transfer to Limited Liability, but I'm lazy and overwhelmed right now. When I have less to do (ha), and more $ (ha) I will do that. Right now I want to feel legit, which is why I am filing at all, and I want to start making money. Have to keep the ball rolling. I got in contact with an accountant too, but I'm not seeking help there yet. When I transfer to LLC I will.

Immediately after deciding my name I purchased a domain name from Bluehost.com and Prophoto to upload to my Word Press account. Yay. Never been so confused in my life, but I'm working on it. This is not my strong point. But I did lots of research on those particular sites in the past couple of weeks, and I chose them because of the ease of use . . . that everyone keeps raving about. So far I agree. My issue is not that I can't read or listen to a tutorial . . . I just need more time to do it. Also I am without my own computer at the moment so I can't really mess around with photos at the moment. Big problem when you own a PHOTOGRAPHY business. LOL . . . the new "new" computer is on its way. (Ugh laptop drama)

And in case you are wondering I will share the domain name when the website is no longer under construction. Right now you would see an under construction message and a template full of names and photos completely unrelated to me. :)

So #2 is around here somewhere waiting for my attention.

#5 . . . haven't even started a logo yet. Accepting free advice or help. :)

I'm off to create! And self medicate my anxiety with chocolate.

Accomplish SOMETHING Business Start Up Checklist #1

If I make a list I usually accomplish it all. Unless it is a list of things I don't want to do. Then I might do one or two and feel good enough, so the list finds its way to the trash.

I do want to do these things though, and making this list public could possibly motivate me to accomplish these things within the hopefully realistic timeline I'm giving myself. One week.

Every week until I officially "open for business" I will post a list of things I need to accomplish before hand.

So here goes . . .

1. Decide on a darn name already . . . 
2. Register the business
3. Decide on a web host and website and start designing
4. Make that amazon purchase already . . . stop adding to it and then removing stuff. You know what you need. You can build a wishlist later. 
5. Design a logo, so you can get business cards. 

I think 5 is enough for this week, especially since I will take forever on #3 and possibly #5. 

OOO NAME UPDATE

I do still find carieliz photography to be quite clever and I love it, really. I love that it is personalized. There will be no denying my connection to the business if it has my actual name in it. Nothing more personal than your name.

but

I have another idea that connects my faith to it too, which . . . I LOVE. Salt and Light Photography. (or maybe Salt & Light- details to be decided after actually committing.) Also clever and fantastic. I wish someone would choose for me. I think my husband likes this one best. It is also a safe pick for adding photographers later, but the downside is people won't immediately associate the name with me. I don't want people to find it impersonal and therefore a turn off. 

I keep asking for comments on things, and get so very few. Which tells me not very many people read these things or care too much. Which is fine. You don't have to care, truly.

But . . . please give me insight. Am I over thinking this name thing or is one really more alluring than the other?

Vote! carieliz or Salt and Light


:::::UPDATE:::::

Just kidding, don't vote. I voted and you lost.
I'm jumping in . . . Salt and Light Photography.

Won't be the only one out there, but the only one on the east coast as far as I can tell. 

Business Planning

Running my own business is a new thing for me. Sure I sell Mary Kay, but I didn't start the company from scratch and I definitely didn't have to make so many important decisions to get the ball rolling.

There are so many things to consider. So many things I didn't think of until I arrived at my need for them. Not at all overwhelming, but for people starting out it can be good to expect the unexpected.

Tried to find an appropriate meme but got caught up on this one instead :)

Today I'm reading tips on choosing and designing a logo. Who knew I would do so much reading on this!?

Committing to a name is hard enough, but now representing it with a logo. Sigh. One of the most important parts of my logo will be the font. Don't ask me why, but if the font doesn't feel like "me" then I can't have it! :) I anticipate creating my own, because . . . well . . . I can make that. (lol)

I'm hung up on image though . . . I don't know if I want one. And if I do . . . I don't know what. When I started photography I was obsessed with close ups of eyes. But eyes can really creep people out, and I don't want my logo to give people bad vibes. I also photographed daisies a lot. Haven't completely ruled them out, but I'm not sold yet. 

Not that I'm ready for a logo anyway . . . I still haven't committed 100% to carieliz photography . . . I think I might have something better, and something that communicates my vision. I need a logo that will do the same . . . 

I'm not sharing it until I do a search to make sure it's not in use, and I'm putting that off in case I'm disappointed. I don't want to be disappointed right now. Maybe in an hour or so. :)

Anyone else out there starting a new business and in the midst of a million steps to do so? I'm with ya . . . for general info that is actually helpful and FREE . . . check this out: Entrepreneur's Guide

It is specific to PA, but still has good info for all types of businesses. Check lists, steps, ya know . . . 

Any small business owners out there, specifically photographers, have any advice for me?

Reading stuff right now and came across this life lesson. This applies to way more than starting a business.

There will never be a time when you are 100% ready. There will always be something missing. Just start. Today.