I once heard a quote that being a business owner is like being a single parent.  

…when the ‘baby cries there is no one to hand her to.

Same goes for celebrations:  your business baby ‘grows a few inches, takes their first steps or gets into Julliard’…and you celebrate mostly alone.

For years, though I’ve had a strong team, peers and amazing clients around me…being a business owner can be a lonely road.  

In November- I siren called to the universe.

It was time.

BUT-I’d heard the horror stories.  

“Never take on a business partner”.

But I ‘asked’ for her anyway.

Pen to paper I laid out the exact qualities I would be looking for as a compliment for my ‘first born’: my wedding photography business. (To allow both her (and myself) to grow into what we are meant to.)

I scribbled:

• She would care about our clients and how we make a difference for them. (we truly do wield some power over here in having the privilege to be biographers of some of the most intimate moments of our client’s lives.) 
• She would be a team player and not leave me as the ‘kid who carried the team project alone’ 
• She would shine in the areas I have been struggling to balance as I have added other businesses/adventures to my life/business family. (oh, hey Find My Fearless Movement & Training/ The Live Loud Collective and creating my fine art.) 
• She would be a BRILLIANT photographer who cares about humans more than money (But she would also believe in excelling financially and grow our business to allow us freedom and to give back to our community) 
• She would be amazing at taking good care of our strategic partners and would build solid relationships with warmth and ease.
• She would present at wedding-related events, be our lead wedding photographer, and be the true ‘face’ of our wedding brand. 

But mostly:

She would be the kind of all-in, high-vibing human that gives it her everything because she believes she is making a difference in this world and inspires me to do the same.

And man, did the universe deliver.

But let me back up.

8 years ago, I saw the work of a Greensboro photographer.  There was something really special in it.  Her work had a ‘life’ about it and just a little extra magic.  (and, of course, I immediately looked her up and then proceeded to message her to tell her she was not charging enough for the amazingness of her work.  😂 If you all know me—#unsolitiedadvice is kind if my thing. lol) 

She= Elly.

We became fast friends thereafter.

A lunch here and there. (often with our dear friend Critsey Rowe) And from the earliest of days we would say ‘we really need a project to work on together.’  

Yet, years would go by.

More lunches, conferences, (including RISE in Charleston, most recently) and more promises to someday work on a project together.

Always leaving inspired by one another’s company.

THEN, at a lunch about 6 weeks ago Elly tossed this sentence into the air: “what if, we were business partners?’

What if…

A seed was planted that day.  

Id love to tell you it’s been an easy task to merge 25 collective years of websites/marketing/clients/referral partners/messaging/logos etc.  

It hasn’t.  

It’s been a total pain in the ass.  

We have had moments of doubt:  ‘what will it feel like to direct my website traffic to yours?’  ‘How will my team take the news—it been just us for a half a decade?’  ‘Will people think I work for you?’  (Does it even matter if they do?’)   Will our already booked clients be nervous? …and on.and on.

It’s been a lot.

But mostly,  it’s been magic.

Dear world, get ready.  Because this all-women team is ready to make an even greater impact than we each could alone and we cannot wait for our combined magic to impact the lives of our clients, industry peers, our growing team and each other.

To this I say ‘thank you universe’ for sending the perfect person  in my direction. ..Even if it took us 7.5 years to make it official.  (Coincidently, I can say the same for me and my husband;-)