Category: Business

So, I’m Sort of A Freelance Photographer Now…

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It all started back in January; my job was hosting some events and needed someone to take photos of it. They already had a professional photographer, but they needed someone to take photos for live and scheduled social media postings. Everyone knew that I went to school for film (scriptwriting) and they have all seen my study abroad photos so I was a natural choice. I did that event for them, using their camera and then for the next event, I used my own camera. I was using my Mirrorless Nikon 1 J4 to take the photos. I did another event where I was the second shooter and my images were used for promotional work. After that, I was hired on to do some non-work-related event photography and I even took some portraits for a media kit.

Up until all that happened, I’d never thought about photography as a second job or a career choice. I’ve always loved photos. I collect them, like a weirdo. I draw inspiration for my stories from the images I collect. In fact, I had 25GB worth of images on my old computer. I’d accumulated those photos over a decade span, but still, that’s a lot of photos.

When I started traveling, I realized I really liked taking photos to document things. So, if you ever get a peek at my travel photos, not the ones that I post, but the ones that are saved on my computer, you’d see pictures of everyday things. Photography turned into a hobby of mine. I had to take classes that covered basic photography when I was in college because of what I studied. I also was part of the photography club on campus, but again, I’d never thought about photography as a possible job until people actually started paying me to take photos. It’s silly, I know. Someone really had to say, “Here, take my money,” before I thought about the financial benefits of photography.

But once I started thinking about the possible financial benefits, I immediately wanted to better myself.  So, I went back to school… sort of… I took some online courses on photography from sites like Lynda and Skillshare (although I do not like Skillshare and I would not recommend it, the class I took was excellent). YouTube is also a great place to learn new things. There is a tutorial for everything and I needed tutorials for Lightroom and Photoshop. I also upgraded my camera. I went from my Mirrorless Nikon 1 J4 to my DSLR Canon 80D and yes, I did cry a little bit on the inside when I bought it. I cried out of excitement and out of fear because I knew I’d just spent a lot of money on something that may or may not make the money back. And I’m a stickler for at least breaking even, even on passion projects such as this.

I think I’m going to add a Photography section to this website to keep you updated on what I’m doing with my photography. I have two upcoming photo shoots and I can’t wait to share them with you.

Failing at NaNoWriMo and Other Adventures!

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November has been the month I failed at everything and I’m okay with that.

I’ve been looking forward to participating in NaNoWriMo since last year when I started watching vlogs about it. There is something so inspiring about watching someone complete a book in thirty days. As the year went on, however, NaNoWriMo slipped to the back of my mind and by the time October of this year rolled around, I started thinking about it again. For the first two weeks of October, I debated with myself on whether or not I should actually participate in it. A week before NaNoWriMo started, I told myself I was going to do it. I had it all planned out. I was going to write two thousand words a day and it was going to be so easy. I was going to have everything on a schedule. I was going to be ahead of the game and although the book would not be finished when I hit fifty thousand words, I was still going to feel like I’d accomplished something.

And then two days before NaNoWriMo started, I decided to start a new, lighter story–something just for NaNoWriMo. Needless to say, this idea blew up in my face big time. I didn’t start actually writing until the fifth day of November. That day, I wrote close to four thousand words and then I gave up. Not because I didn’t think I could catch up, but because there were other things going on.

So, I’ve been expanding this website and trying to plan out my future, or at least figure out what I’m going to be doing for the next few years. I have a degree in Scriptwriting but I live in Missouri. I can’t really use my degree until I move closer to one of the coasts; I’m just being honest with myself. During this economical draught, all of us in St. Louis are experiencing, I’ve been trying to figure out ways to either get a second job or start marketing myself as a freelance writer for a little side income. You see, although the main focus of my degree was film and television I had to take the same core curriculum as journalism, mass communication, and public relations students. So, I’m actually well versed in commercial writing and I’ve been trying to market my services.

Around the time I started NaNoWriMo I actually got a client that wanted me to do some technical/legal writing for them and build them a website. I was super excited about this opportunity but I was really nervous because I’d never done legal writing before. If you can understand something and mimic it, then you can learn any type of writing style but the thing about legal documents that will catch you up a bit is the fact that there is rarely an example or template you can work from. So, while I was coming up with a story for NaNoWriMo and trying to get caught back up, and expanding the website and promoting my other services, I was also working really hard on something I’d never done before. I wanted to do well on this, not just because someone was paying me to do it, but because it was a legal document that was going to help them start a business. I was very upfront with them about not having done any legal/technical writing prior to their assignment but they had faith in me and they were patient with me. The final version of the legal document turned out very well and after it gets notarized by an attorney, I’ll get started on building my client’s website.

As far as NaNoWriMo goes, I’ve failed and I’ve come to accept that but I’ll be ready for it next year.

Times Are A Changin

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Hey everyone. Did you miss me?

Maybe? Just a little bit…don’t be shy…I missed you too. If you’ve noticed, I started posting on Saturdays but I had to stop because graduation season is upon us. No. I haven’t graduated yet. I still have one more week but I’m almost there. Also, my graduation is next Saturday, so don’t expect a post from me. You may get a  picture of me gleefully exclaiming that I finally did it, but there will be no other posts from that day. But don’t worry, once I’m done with school, regular posting will resume.

But that’s not what this post is about. Nope. I’m coming on here to tell you guys that times are a changin!

I’m starting a publishing company

In the upcoming months, you may start to see some changes to the site. I’m starting a business and since it’s just going to be a small one, I decided to merge the blog with the business website. Which means I’m going to buy my website and the URL and domain name may change. It just made more sense economically to merge the two sites and the subject matters go hand and hand so it works for me. Once I start taking on full-time clients, then I’ll separate the two sites because at that point I’ll have enough money to support the needs of both sites.

But don’t worry, the business will not affect the blog in any way. In fact, I’m going to do my best to separate the blog from the business because you didn’t start following the blog just to get sold something. This means that I will not use my blog to promote the business but it doesn’t mean that there will never be any crossover. The blog is about my life and my experiences. If something big (relating to the business) is happening in my life, the blog will cover it but it’ll be more like a behind the scenes kind of thing.

The business will get its own Facebook page that will be linked to this site and this site will be linked to the Facebook page. The website will start to accumulate more content and (hopefully) more traffic. This means you will start to see new sections of the website develop over the upcoming months (if I’m being realistic, probably years). And the homepage will also change although I’m not sure in what capacity.

Minimum Wage is now $10

Yes, you read that right. The minimum wage rose to $10 per hour in the city of St. Louis, MO this week and I’m super excited. This means that I can save more. I can finally get my glasses fixed and take the driver’s test so I can get my license. I can buy my website and invest in my company. I can start paying on my student loans before they go into repayment. And I can actually get my company registered with the state of Missouri and get my logo trademarked. Yeah, sure, I could have done all of this before the minimum wage was raised but now I can do all of this before the summer is over.

Sidenote: Below is a map of St. Louis. Yes, it is that fractured. Yes, this is why we have so many problems. Yes. The counties do outnumber the city limits (what is shown in this picture are sections of St. Louis. The counties break up into even smaller communities than shown on the map). Yes, all the counties were created during white flight. St. Louis is one of the greatest examples of White Flight in American history and we’re a good example of how it damages the economy and educational system while also hardening racial relationships within communities. I added the picture below to point out that everyone who does not work inside of the city limits is still subject to $7.75 (I think) as their minimum wage. Think about that for a second. But “hurray” for the small victories.

saint_louis