Self employed 1week in as Kent wedding photographer blog

Jodie Lingard
Sep 17
5 min read

Updated: Oct 10

1 Week In – Thoughts and Feelings self employed blog

I’m bored.

And cold.

Really, really, really cold.

I wonder if I can afford lunch today…Ok, so I’ve had lunch. Now I’m here, and you’re there, reading my thoughts of the day. One week in. Here we are. Not gone belly up yet. Apparently you’ve got to focus on the positives, right? and according to google I've also got to write a blog about being self employed so here we are.

One of the first things you’ll notice reading anything I write is I can’t spell, I can’t punctuate, and I’m absolutely fine with that. Spellcheck fixes some of it, some of my text even good old spellchecker doesn’t understand, so what chance have I got eh? Anyway, I digress.

Leaving the day job was always the plan. Having worked on building our little business for some time now, Jo in the studio every day slaving away, and us out every weekend together, plus most evenings in the studio trying to keep up, we’ve known for a while that we needed to make the jump and bring me in full time. But anyone who’s made that jump knows just how nerve wracking it is. Leaving a secure job (well, as secure as any job can be) and jumping into self employment, leaving behind that reliable monthly paycheck, and now I’ve got to go find our own money.

We’ve never been afraid of a bit of graft, but I’ll always be afraid of failing in a very saturated market, where half the competitors are racing to the bottom on pricing just to secure a little payday.

Day one in the studio was a shock to the system. Coming from a fast paced job out on the road, heaving heavy stuff about and being “king of the road,” and now look at me, a desk jockey in our own little bubble. Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, but apparently it gets easier.

Jo had work booked in that took her out and about on shoots, and I knew I needed to “get on.” What does that even mean anyway? God knows. Whatever it was, I needed to do it. I knew I had some videos to finish and some photos to edit, but I decided “getting on” meant I should check Facebook.

After a little while it occurred to me that doom scrolling and watching midgets race camels around a track possibly wasn’t very productive. So I occupied myself tidying my toolbox, which I’d just moved into the studio now that it’s no longer needed at work. One thing I’ve realised very quickly is that I don’t like computers. Sitting here makes me cold, then I get hungry, and then no work gets done.

Well, on the brighter side my tools are all lovely, neatly lined up, and my spanners are polished. Absolutely none of which is going to advance our photography business.

The next day or two I tried harder to actually achieve something on the computer. Right, I need more work, so I pinged a few posts on social media and sat back waiting for the influx of people desperate to book us. (Insert tumbleweed noise here.) While waiting for the magic to happen, I got on with some editing.

Crap. I must remember to check if the freezer’s working. Oh, I didn’t tell you about the freezer yet. Jo popped out, and I decided we needed one for the studio, so I bought one. Jo came back and was delighted with my spontaneous purchase and all the benefits she could see from it. Apparently washing the windows would have been an equally “useful” use of my time while she was out. Whatever that meant.

I can’t deny this is a shock. Although Jo wants me to find my own way in the business, and not feel like she’s always giving me a to do list, I can’t deny it’s a struggle. Without order and direction, I get distracted easily.

Like today, I was waiting for an upload, Jo was working away at her computer, and when she glanced over she just saw me spinning on my chair going “weeeeeeeeee.” Like I said, easily distracted.

Money worries

Coming from a monthly wage to having to earn it myself, yeah, it’s worrying. We’ve got a bit saved in the business bank to help with winter, but I keep analysing the £ signs in everything I do:

Cleaning toolbox: £0
Social media posts: £0
Completing this film: £0 (paid months ago)
Lunch: -£10
Ooh look, a new camera bit to make videos even better: -£40
Ooh look, there’s a yellow one like Bumblebee from Transformers: -£60

You get the idea.

The finances worry me a lot. I know in my head it’s the bigger picture I need to think about, but each night I go home thinking, “Oh, good job today, we earned £0 and it cost us £XXX to be here.” Still, something must be going right, the bank app keeps pinging with payments, and Jo looks content and not worried. That reminds me, I’d better check if any leads have booked… brb… Whoo! She wants to book! That might go somewhere.

I’ve been trying to keep busy, not just with editing but by being social with fellow suppliers, replying to posts, comments and stuff. Not yielding much yet, but I’m sure it will.

The unburnt energy is becoming a real problem. After work this week we’ve had to start going for a walk. I know, right, a poxy walk. But it’s been really nice. We’re starting to see a change in our lives outside of work now I’m not on call 24/7 or exhausted from doing all the hours. We’ve been trying hard to catch up on things, then go home and have time together outside of work. Walking to town, wandering along the beach, it’s been lovely. We get to see people doing normal people stuff, like walking the dog, eating out, popping to the pub.

Not us though. We’re just walking to burn off my stored up energy, like a coiled spring looking for somewhere to bounce. Jo knows when I’ve got itchy feet because I get annoying. A random paper ball slung over the desk just because it’s funny. “Darling, would you like a cup of tea?” “Perfect, make me one while you’re there…”

I’ve had a couple of productive meetings this week with suppliers and venues, so let’s see how that goes. We’ve also made leaflets for funeral homes to try and get more jobs covering funerals and celebrations. Sounds morbid, but memories are memories, right?

The sun’s just come out at last, much better than Saturday’s horrendous rainy wedding.

Quick cash or keep doing what we’re doing?

The constant financial worry is always there. I keep zoning out trying to come up with a new master plan for how we can take over the photography world. Do we need another photobooth? Maybe I should approach schools. Christ, I need to push Christmas mini shoots. Maybe I could get a part time job on Tuesdays and Wednesdays? But then what if that limits our work, like Monday’s shoot, which was good as J o was already booked out elsewhere.

WHERE DID THE BIG LETTERS COME FROM? HANG ON! Fixed it. brb, smoke time.

Anyway, the boss has just checked in. Time for me to pop out, I’ve got to grab something from Tony the Tog.

To summarise the first week:

I’m tired, cold, and worried for the future. Sitting here makes me freezing, and we don’t want to be blasting the heating yet, we should watch the pennies to begin with. I seem to be hungry all the time, and since I’m not burning it off I’ll be piling on the pounds soon.

But, I’m optimistic. Enquiries are coming in. I just need to stop getting side tracked and focus more efficiently.

I’ll keep updating as we go. For now, thank you to everyone who’s been so supportive, all the well wishes mean the world. We’ll see you all soon.

Simon AKA The Boss <-------------- Don't tell Jo she thinks She's the boss still.