Can I take a minute and just acknowledge that this year has been just downright discouraging? Not even just from a business perspective although that hasn't been great either. But this year in general has been hard on most everyone. First the shutdown. Minimal social life for 2 months. Then the slow reopening and reconnecting. Now the masks across everyone's faces. The fear lurking behind someone's eyes. The stark reality that what we knew as normal may never come back. Now a

You may read in previous blogs about my journey to becoming #debtfree. It is an ongoing process that has been slowed due to the Covid 19 crisis. During this time, I have had to pivot (this has now become my word for 2020) and think of other ways to bring in some income. Maybe you are in this spot too? 1. Ebay - sell items you don't need. Pay attention to items that are selling right now! This does ebb and flow with the times. Right now, I've had success with health related it

I don't know about you, but I'm becoming addicted to podcasts! They are perfect for listening to on long car trips (or on long walks these days). Makes the time go faster. Keeps my brain engaged. And, best of all, I usually learn something from each one. So what are my favorites? Well, I'm constantly finding more. But here are my top 3: 1) Dave Ramsey: Host Dave Ramsey is an author, radio host, and businessman. I started listening to him last fall and read his book Total Mone

As some of you may know, one of the things I do on the side is dogsit. Currently, I am living with a pitbull named Leo while his owner is overseas, near the hotzone, serving with the US Marines. While I've always had respect for those who serve and put their lives on the line, I have never really seen it from the perspective of those waiting at home. Dear Father in Heaven who created me to man's best friend, Please protect my daddy...I do so miss him. He has been gone a while

I think for most it is safe to say that this hasn't been an easy week. So much uncertainty right now with everything related to COVID-19. Uncertainty about what to do. Uncertainty about business. Uncertainty about income. Uncertainty about safety. It feels overwhelming and discouraging. And if we aren't careful, it would be really easy to let fear take hold and control us. Instead, we can use this time for reflection and refocus. I know, easier said than done. But most of us

This can feel like an overwhelming question, honestly. I have done a variety of things in tandem with photography. If you've read previous posts, then you know I do dogsitting and sometimes nannying. On occasion, I also tutor students in a variety of subjects. As my background is in education, I love being able to focus on helping students one on one in an academic area of difficulty and see them light up when they start understanding something that previously eluded them. Su

If you read my previous blog, you know one of my personal goals for this year is to get out of debt. When I decided to tackle this debt in November, I started out with over $11,000 in credit card debt. What made me decide to tackle this hard? Realizing that I have been "stupid" for far too long, as Dave Ramsey would say. His will be the first in a blog series on books that I recommend. Book: The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey If you don't know anything about Dave Ramsey,

Can you believe it is a new year? A new decade! And with the new year comes new goals. I'm not just talking about "I want to lose a few pounds." I do want to do that but I am talking about specific, measurable personal and business goals that I want to achieve this year. Some of my personal goals include: 1. Get out of debt. Yes, I said the dreaded D word. Or maybe you just think it is a normal thing and considering the statistics it is pretty normal for folks to have debt.

What is it like to be an event photographer? By events, I am talking about learning environment events that can be couple hours to multi-day conference type events. #1: You meet lots of people! People travel all over for these types of learning events so you meet and hear from people from all over the US and all over the world. #2: There is so much going on! During breaks, there is other things going on. People are collaborating/networking, preparing for next speaker or pract

Clients often ask me how long I have been shooting or how I got started in photography. So here is the story! In 2009, I met a photographer, who is still a dear friend to this day. We hung out a lot! Every time we went for a drive, he had his camera along. Then there would be spontaneous moments of pulling to the side of the road to capture something that caught his interest. During these times, I watched and tried to figure out what he had seen, how was he framing this shot,

In case you didn't know, I'm an introvert. If you are familiar with Myers Briggs, then I am an INFJ. I used to tell people that I am shy. People didn't believe me. As a child, I was definitely shy. As an adult, I know how to be personable and so some might think I am an extrovert. So there is a word for being able to be extroverted even as an introvert: ambivert. But part of that came with pushing myself to get out and mingle. My chosen method was networking. When I lived in

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook (@stephaniefordphotography), you have probably noticed that my content this week has been about a very difficult topic: Discouragement. At the end of last week/beginning of the week, I realized that I wasn't sure what to share this week due to lack of new photography content. So I felt discouraged. And my mentor challenged me to share about that. Then I realized I am not alone. We all feel discouragement in various ways in our persona