Photos From the Family Shoot

So, I finally have had the time (between the day job, package pricing, and continuing ed classes) to get back in here to post some pictures from the family photo shoot last month. I tried to add the images to my last blog, but I'm having problems editing posts. I don't know if it's on my end or not, so I thought I would go ahead and create a new post so that I can share.

We have had a lot of changes over the past weeks. I don't want to go into a lot of our personal drama, so I will spare you the details. Suffice it to say that there was enough activity on a personal level to throw our business back a few weeks regarding goal setting and a timeline. I would like to be able to upload the remaining pictures from our shoot, but the editor will not let me place my cursor where it needs to be and I honestly do not have the patience to try and work it out at this point.

I did my 8+ hour shift at work yesterday, then spent 3 hours in a business plan writing class, and then 8+ more hours at the office today, and have been trying to work my way through ODesk for some information, but am hitting dead ends there, too. I think it's time to pack it in and call it a day.

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Alrighty, then. I figured out the cursor problem. Hadn't ever seen that one before, but rectified it and got the remaining image uploaded, as you can see.

So now it is off to profide some computer support to a friend of mine and get started on having a weekend.

Ciao!

Personal Life Versus Professional Life....

Wow. So here's the deal: My 16 year old son decided, the night before he was scheduled to come home from a summer visit with his dad, that he didn't want to come home. Of course, I pulled parental rank and told him his tail would be on the plane to come home and tie up his loose ends, one of which was 300 square feet of bedroom/walk-in closet that looked like a bomb went off. He was NOT impressed, to say the least, but did come home.

He was in town just shy of two weeks before he flew back to Nevada, leaving an upset mom, brother and step-sister. During the middle of this time, Wall 2 Wall Photography had a grand opening open house, a family portrait session scheduled, and our own family portraits to do before he left.

Needless to say, it was hard to be motivated, because I was incredibly sad prior to his departure, but kept my scheduled appointments accordingly.

I'm glad that I did. While it's not professional to let your personal life get in the way of your professional life, there is a point where you have to find some middle ground.

I shot some really neat images of this family and it helped me not only get my mind off my issues, but reinforced the confidence I have in myself regarding my ability as a portrait photographer.

Even though I was upset and sad, we sat for a family session in our studio before my son left, and somehow we came out of it with some of the best family shots we've had of ourselves to date. I don't know how I managed to look as happy as I did (I was miserable on the inside), but we will always have the images posted in this blog (coming soon) to remember that we were a family.

To anyone that is contemplating cancelling any kind of professional engagnement due to personal issues: My best advice is this: Don't do it. You will feel much better if you can continue to act as if nothing is bothering you in your professional life. It helps counteract anything that might have you questioning your performance as a person in your personal life.

Thanks for listening. Until next time.....

Julie

The Grand Opening "Open House" *whew*

Yay! I got through the Open House. Y'all! I was SO stressed! But it was fun, and well worth it! We did a lot of last minute set up, and moved tables in, food in, a cooler full of ice in, dusted, mopped, swept, etc.

I got to hang my "Open" sign for the first time, and my daughter/assistant, Peri took this picture of me hanging it on the wall outside the front door. :)

We had a steady stream of visitors from 1:00-6:00 p.m. I had some of my framed art prints on display, as well as a slide show. Everyone that came to visit was very positive, including my friend and day-job boss, Brenda (that would be of Brenda's Creative Designs, for those of you who live in the greater Wayne County area). :)

At six o'clock I had my assistant, Peri, draw a name for the Photos On CD package give-away. That's Tim, my son and other assistant, holding the basket. ;)Congratulations to Don and Sue from LaGrange, NC, who won the package.

Meanwhile, back in the marketing department, I am going to be scheduling a spot on the public access morning spot to get the Wall 2 Wall name out there. I'm also starting to take notes on my commercial spots, as well, so this may be a very interesting week!

As many of you know, I offer a different type of portrait package. Your bargain basement packages consist of one or two poses in many different sizes. My session packages allow the customer to get prints of all shots taken, some even matted and ready for framing; many in custom albums. (Email me if you aren't familiar with our packages.)

At any rate, I've got to work some of my Sunday shoot. I will post that blog later this week.

Happy Tuesday, everyone! :)

Grand Opening!!!

Well, it looks like the day is finally coming when Wall 2 Wall Photography will officially open the doors to the studio!

We will be having our open house on Saturday, August 23, 2008 from 1-6 p.m.

Among the goings on will be a drawing for a free portrait package, reduced price 8x10 matted portraits (appointments can be set at the open house), portrait portfolios on display, a catalogue of landscape and still life prints that can be custom ordered to size, and our "meet & greet" for all of our new customers.

Please feel free to email info@wall2wallphotos.com for more information or directions to the studio.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The Misadventures of a Debit Card User

As most of you (all 2 or 3 of you out there that are actually reading these) know, I am a very small business. (Wall 2 Wall? Party of one?)

Because of this, and the fact that I am just starting to get this puppy off the ground, I do not have a generic business credit card. (As a sole proprietor, to obtain one through the bank, one needs to fill out a financial report with information including, but not limited to, your assets (house, car, bank accounts, insurance policies, etc.), your income (and your spouse's if you plan on using it; highly recommended to justify your debt to income ratio if you depend on both salaries to pay your bills), the amount of business you anticipate over the next 12 months, etc. This is because if you are not a corporation (i.e. an LLC) your personal assets can be taken in the event you default on your business loan. Neat how that works, huh?

Anyway...My business checking account came with a debit card that can be used online for those types of purchases. I have used mine twice; once to order checks, and once to order a checkbook cover.

So, yours truly is going through her transactions to balance the checkbook (after having blown the dust off of it) using the online banking function that was re-established after a period of non-usage. I discovered two transactions for $11.99; once on July 1 and once on August 1. Don't ask me why or how, because I honestly don't know.

I get on the phone and call the bank to inquire about the above transactions and they did a little research and gave me an 800 number to call and have them credit the charges back to my checking account. So I called. It was disconnected. BIG shock there, huh? So I called the bank again, and they took my information and stated that a customer care specialist in their fraud department would get back with me within 48 hours.

During the 48th hour I received a voicemail from the bank (I'd been down with a bug since the night of the discovery of the charges and stayed in bed the remainder of the week), who gave me another 800 number to call. Tried that. A few times. Line was busy. Hmmmm. So the following day I get a little packet in the mail that I filled out yesterday and took to the bank. One was an affidavit stating that I wasn't lying about the fraudulent transaction(s), and the other was the actual fraud report. The affidavit had to be signed in front of a notary, and since there was one at the bank, I figured I would just leave the paperwork with them, rather than burn a couple of days waiting on USPS to do their thing. (I don't like them very much right now, either, but that's another story.)

Yes, I know...It's only, what? $23.98? Not a lot of money...Unless you don't have a lot of money in your busines account to start with, because you're trying to get up and running.

I have done a LOT of online transactions over the past five years. I mean, I'm an e-bay addict, purchase a lot of mats and whatnot online for our benefit art auctions, etc. and in that time, this is only the second time anything like this has happened to me.

On the one hand, doing online transactions with a debit card pretty much puts it too close to the actual cash. On the other hand, I'm not really comfortable putting all of my personal assets out there JUST so I can get a business credit card at this point in time. When I do my LLC? Sure. I'll use the business financial information. The less I have to put my personal assets on the line the better I like it. :)

So the only think I can feasibly do at this point in the game is continue to do as I have been, but do business ONLY with companies I am familiar with and have done business with in the past, and continue to keep a sharp watch on what is going on with my bank statements.

The first time this happened was because I apparently didn't read the ULTRA small print when I ordered some business cards (and apparently neither did a couple thousand other people). This time I was not familiar with the company that charged the card, but after having done some research, it seems that the company in question nails people that use other companies. There are another few thousand unsuspecting web-consumers that have fallen prey to this company, as well, so I'm apparently in good company, huh?

Ahhhh, life's lessons. You gotta love 'em. Until next time....