There’s not enough time in the day.

I know, I know. Nothing new there. Everyone says that at least once in their lifetime. Most of us are fairly busy people with jobs, families to take care of, a house to clean, meals to cook, bills to pay, and seasons to enjoy. If it’s not currently going on, it’s floating around in our heads and we’re exhausted just thinking about what we have to do next. But busy is good, right? Especially in the eyes of a business owner. Without work to do, there’s no money and without money there’s no business. But what happens when you’re busy as a small business owner doing it all on your own?

I’m a small business owner and photographer who is also a stay-at-home mom and wife. I have a lot going on on a daily basis. Between handling the business, keeping Ally entertained and happy, cooking meals, hanging out with the family, enjoying all things fall AND preparing to move into a new house, I’ve got a lot on my to-do list. And I have a confession: I don’t have enough time to get everything done!

This is, unfortunately, especially true for my business. I’m a small business owner that does everything on her own. From bookkeeping to mailing, product research to editing, communication to marketing…IT’S ALL DONE BY ME! ONE PERSON! I wish I had more time (and money!) to do things like design a bunch of pretty sample albums, attend WPPI and other swanky photography conferences, build custom websites for my wedding clients, meet other photographers for morning coffee, hire a tech-y and organized assistant…and hopefully I can make all those happen someday. But the reality is, I can’t right now. I work, on average, a max of five hours each weekday. So I email, edit, order/design albums, prepare blog posts, interact on Facebook, keep my books straight, and photograph clients (each of those individually can take up the majority of my five hours, by the way). Those tasks are what I consider to be the most important things to do for my business in the time I’m given to work, and I get those done.

Do I dream? Yes. Do I work on adding things to the business? Yes. But that usually takes place once all the above are finished…or in the off-season, between November and March. But even then, just like now and always, I’m also a mom and wife, too…with another babe on the way and a new house to move into and make a home. I’m not at all complaining or saying I’m unhappy, because I am happy, my family is happy, my clients are happy, and my business is happy (and growing!). I’m just sharing a reality and a confession. I’m a stay-at-home, small-business-owner mom, photographer and wife, and I don’t have enough time to get everything done. But that’s OK, because I make enough time to get the most important things (in my life) done. 🙂

So can you confess the same? Do you also not have enough time to get everything done? I also confess that I don’t have the time to get this past weekend’s beautiful wedding edited now, but I can share a large sneak peek… 🙂