I‘m so excited to share about this particular coaching session for a few reasons!

First of all, Natalie came from Chicago for her coaching session.  Other than another sweet photographer from California (how humbling was that?!), this is the furthest someone has traveled- and it means the world to me and represents a total new direction for mentoring for me!

Second of all, the reason it worked for her to travel all that way was because she did a full day mentoring session! This is a relatively new offering for me that instead of doing 3 hours of content, which includes a good dive into a few topics and some headshots, Natalie did a full day which involves an extremely deep look into all the aspects of her business and working through how to really get her to the next level. It also included headshots and a live photo session with me and a family, which is something that is now reserved for those full day sessions.  It is absolutely incredible what can be accomplished in that many hours together, which I first realized when Michael and I did a full day coaching session with the one and only Katelyn James.  It is just really different how deep you can go into the processes, marketing, editing, and shooting in that amount of time.  We also loved spoiling Natalie with a little dinner from our favorite local restaurant!

The third reason it was so fun was because Natalie and I have known each other for over 10 years because we went to college together! We were closer then, having sang in choir together, worked with a youth choir together, and running around in the same group at times.  Since college, it has been mostly an online friendship, but I have loved watching her raise her twin girls the last few years while I have been raising my kids as well, and was so excited when her photography passion came to life.  I remember so vividly in college that Natalie knew at that point that she wanted to be involved in weddings– she just thought it was as the planner! Life takes us on many interesting turns– and I cannot wait to see how this all plays into her current photography business.

Natalie just has so much to look forward to in her business! As a photographer, she is creative and very smart. She has good instincts about what has to happen and follows them well.  And as a person, she just could not be more perfect for creative entrepreneurship in my mind.  She is friendly, personable, warm, and can get to work when needed.  I think there are amazing things coming her way!

The hours that I spend coaching each month (2 sessions a month) are truly 6 of my favorite hours of work. I love taking what I learned from all those years of teaching and putting it into helping propel others forward- with goals and a plan in place!  It feels like the perfect marriage of 2 things I love so equally- even though the photography piece fits in my life so much better right now than the teaching music did.  I am booking into fall now for coaching sessions, and would love to chat with you if you are a photographer or small business owner wondering what your next step is! There is a lot more information about the coaching and workshop sides of my business on the new education page.  We are working on some big educational things for the next year or so for all levels of photographers, and I can’t wait to share more!

See more education posts full of FREE content here!!