Three Years Later…
January 31, 2020 was a cold, wet, dark day, much like January 31, 2023 is a cold, wet, dark day. I put the last of my things into a box, left my keys on a Michael Scott meme on my desk (meant for my successor) and stepped out into a brave new world. A world where I was no longer employed. A world where I would learn the hard cost of health insurance when you’re paying for it yourself. A world that had not yet plunged into a pandemic and scrambled all my plans.
I started Allison Patel Photography in January of 2011, in the same week that I decided to quit smoking. I like a challenge, apparently. And I ran my business as a side project for 9 years, giving it half of my attention (or none, in months like August in Student Affairs). Ironically, I finally decided it was time to give it more attention after I became a mom. I was drowning under the responsibilities of parenthood, working a demanding (and very fulfilling) job in Higher Ed, and trying to run a business. That extra amount of life responsibilities finally pushed me over the edge to pick something that had to go. I had wanted to be a photographer and a mother my whole life, so naturally, the well-paying job was the one that went.
I walked out into the rain three years ago with a nervous spring in my step, excited for the possibilities and having no idea that the world would shut down six weeks later. Left with nowhere to go, and no one outside my house to safely photograph, I buckled down and started photographing inside my house, daily (shocking, I know, that I wasn’t doing that before). I started taking classes on the things I wanted to get better at - light, connection, editing, business - and started reformulating everything (EVERYTHING) in my business. The business I had in 2020 looked nothing like my business today, and I couldn’t be happier about all the changes. I’ve worked hard to streamline every aspect of my professional photography process, making it easier for my clients, and making it more fun for the families who choose to work with me.
What would I tell that brave, naive girl who stepped out into the rain with a box of belongings she had collected for more than 15 years?
First, I would tell her that she should throw away half of the stuff in that box, so it doesn’t sit in her house for 6 months before she goes through it.
Then I would tell her that she can do hard things. Like, go from being an essential employee with a team, making important decisions that affected thousands of people, to being at home with two babies and no control over anything outside of those four walls during a time nobody could have predicted. Talk about a culture shock.
Lastly, I would tell that 2020 girl that she made the right choice to leave her job and take her photography business full time. That her clients and families are amazing, kind, sweet people that she loves to work with. That the connections she’ll make over the next three years will make her feel part of a community that fills her with joy.
It kind of makes me wonder why she waited so long to walk out into the rain.
Want to read more about my decision to quit the 9-5 workforce, and some of the factors that went into it? Here’s naive me, from January 2020.
Here’s where I rediscovered my why, in July 2022.
Here’s existential me in January 2018, realizing nothing lasts forever.
And here’s my “end of an era” post from November 2020, when I found some freedom and the words to express it.
