Women Inspire, Network, Create (WINC) is a women’s networking and business support group. I recently had the opportunity to join the leadership team, and the first event I helped to plan was Celebrate Our Sisters: a night of sharing business successes and listening to two professionals share their triumphs. It was so much fun, with finger foods, wine, activities, and the opportunity to meet new business-owning women.
The first to speak was Jen Vallina of One Sock On Photography. She’s been in business for ten years:
Nothing is “free”
Jen didn’t intend to start a business. She is not a formally trained photographer, but started receiving portrait requests when her first child was young. She had no portfolio, so she sent out a request on her neighborhood listserv for free portraits in exchange for models. Yet nothing is truly “free”: receiving testimonials, word-of-mouth references, and portfolio material are valuable returns for work.
Don’t undersell
Photography is popular. There are many practicing photographers in the DC area, and sometimes Jen found photographers offering her same services for slightly lower prices! There will always been competition: take it as a compliment. Perhaps because of those competitors, Jen has been tempted to undersell herself – so she tried an experiment. She was offering photo sessions which were hard work and wore her out. So, she doubled her prices – and the the sessions sold out! Be confident in what you do.
Ebb and Flow
For many, photography services are luxury. Jen has observed that her business fluctuates with the housing market. Around 2007, business was slow for One Sock On. For luxury products and services, prepare for cycles.
The second speaker was Hetty Irmer of Four Corners Counseling. She was the 2015 winner of the StartRight! Women’s Business Plan Competition in Maryland. Hetty’s business is less than three years old (a requirement of the StartRight! competition):
Expansion and contraction
There are times of business expansion: you hustle for more clients, network for contacts, build processes and systems and grow, grow, grow. There are also times of contraction, when you need to nurture what you’ve built, and take things easy. Both are equal, both are neutral, and both are part of the flow of building a business.
Your relationship with your business
Hetty led us in a short meditation, in which she asked us to picture our business as a separate entity from ourselves, and to observe our relationship with that entity. Though our businesses come from us, they exist separately, and we relate to them in different ways at different times. I observed fear and anxiety about my own business, as well as pride and excitement. It was instructive to “communicate” with my business in this way, and to take stock of our relationship.
There is no finish line
There is no time when business will be done. Many of us imagine some future point in which our goals will be complete, balance achieved, and we’ll be finished. But this future time and place is an illusion: life, work, and balance are ongoing projects. We do ourselves a service to realize that now, rather than imagine that at some point, we’ll be done.
Both Jen and Hetty mentioned something we’ve undoubtedly all heard: get out of your comfort zone. Stretch yourself! There is nothing comfortable or easy about owning a businesses, but the rewards for taking risks and challenging ourselves are great.
