Defining your own success || Lynchburg, VA Wedding Photographer

Oh man, this is a hard one for me to write. I don’t want to come across as “preachy” as I’m talking straight to myself in this one, but I know as much as I need it, there has to be others that do as well! Especially this year as I'm only booking a limited number of weddings with baby on the way.  

In this industry, and paired with social media, it is SO easy to look at what everyone else is doing and compare it to what I am doing. To see that other photographer posting wedding images from what seems like being booked every single weekend. To see their gorgeous home, that never seems to get dirty and have piles of unfolded laundry in the corner and stacked up on the living room couch. It’s so easy to constantly be comparing how many shoots another photographer shoots compared to how many you shoot. We compare what other people are charging, trips they go on, social media followers and comments. It is exhausting. And not accurate.

It’s extremely difficult not to get wrapped up in how everyone else seems to be doing better and booking more weddings than you. Then it can seriously spiral from there, that you must not be as good and talented as they are. But really it needs to come down to your own personal definition of success. Your definition of success shouldn’t be the same as anyone else’s- it should be what is success for you and your family specifically.  Everyone’s journey is different and unique.  

There was a time in my life where shooting a wedding every single Saturday (or most of them, anyways) was what I genuinely wanted to do. There was a time when I was working full-time and trying to build my business and my definition of success would have been to shoot more than 10 weddings a year.

It’s so important when running your own business to take everyone else out of the equation and ask yourself- what is success to you? What makes you happy at the end of the day- that says, I feel fulfilled, content and am doing what I need to do for my family.

For me, my definition of success always focuses on my family. I am able to do what I love to do, but also be available for my family. When Michael has a Friday off, we can go on a lunch date (always El Jefe downtown for tacos and margaritas! Can’t wait to go after this baby is born- I’ve missed those margaritas!!) or I can go on field trips and volunteer in Emmie’s classroom.  I love that I’m doing something I am so passionate about, can love on my couples and have my family stay a priority as well! I haven’t always been able to balance everything well- especially when I was first full-time with my business, or balancing both working full time and trying to build my business up. It takes some work and learning to adjust, but you can get there!

Keep your eyes on your own paper. Be encouraged by looking back at what you have accomplished and how far you’ve come- not how far you feel that other people are in relation to where you are. It’s totally okay to grow at your own pace, and be as busy as you want to be!

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Ashley Eiban is a Wedding & Portrait Photographer based in Central Virginia. Serving the Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, and surrounding areas. Available for travel world-wide.  Ashley is passionate about cultivating genuine relationships built on mutual understanding, trust and lasting friendship.  

Currently booking a limited number of wedding and portrait sessions for 2018 and 2019.  Contact Ashley today for additional information!

Small Business & Motherhood: Balancing the house work vs. working at home

I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I used to think working from home would be AMAZING. I used to work in an office and would often be drowning in housework that needed to get done, dinners that needed to be made, errands to be run, and so so much more. But then I started working from home and quickly realized- this isn’t as easy as I thought it would be to balance everything! I would start doing some housework and easily get pulled in and spend my entire day doing laundry, running errands, cleaning the floors, all the things. But then none of my actual work would end up getting done.

Or, the opposite, I would sit down in the morning to just answer a few emails and get sucked in to all the things on my to-do list and realized at the end of the day that I didn’t even eat lunch. And the house would be a disaster, laundry piled up, and dinner never made. I don’t know about you, but when I wanted to work for myself, I wanted to be able to work with balance. To have days off, and to not constantly feel stressed and behind. Now, there are busy seasons where things are more stressed and require a lot more work at my desk, but then there are also seasons of rest and days off.

There are always distractions, but I’ve found by planning my days out ahead of time, I can be more successful and balance keeping up with the house work, and working from home.  It does take a little bit of prep-work ahead of time, but it’s so worth the sanity! During a slower season, like January and February for Virginia, I don’t schedule office hours everyday, so first off, I schedule which days are going to be days with office hours and which days aren’t. Then, I wrote out all the house chores that need to get done during the week & organize them by room. So things like, clean out the fridge, wash towels, change the sheets, etc. get divided out between kitchen, bedrooms, etc. From there, I divided out each room and groups of chores for a day. So, on Monday’s I clean the kitchen- including cleaning out the fridge, taking the trash out to the street, etc. I spend about an hour every morning after I drop Emerson off at school to accomplish the cleaning for this general area. From there, I already know if it’s a day that I need to sit at my desk to complete my office hour tasks, or run to the grocery store or other errands that need to get done.  

I stop my office hours by 2:30pm so I can pick Emerson up from school, work on homework and reading practice with her, un-interrupted. I use this time to also start working on dinner, and any of things that may need to be picked up, laundry switched over, etc.  After dinner, Michael and I spend a few minutes picking up and making sure the dishwasher is loaded and the sink is empty. Lunches are packed, and Emerson’s clothes are picked out for the next morning. By having this all written down and listed out for each day, I don’t have to keep all of this is my brain and I am able to focus on the other things that need to get done!

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Ashley Eiban is a Wedding & Portrait Photographer based in Central Virginia. Serving the Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, and surrounding areas. Available for travel world-wide.  Ashley is passionate about cultivating genuine relationships built on mutual understanding, trust and lasting friendship.  

Currently booking a limited number of wedding and portrait sessions for 2018.  Contact Ashley today for additional information!

Motherhood & Small Business || Series Returning!

I get so many questions about balancing Motherhood and running my small business! And, many of you know this is something I am super passionate about! One of the reasons I work so hard with my business is because I know first-hand how hard it was for me and my family when I worked full-time in the corporate setting.  I never want to take for granted that I'm able to do something that I absolutely love AND I'm able to help support for my family, and show Emerson that working hard and following your dreams pays off! 

It's been a while since I've written on the topic, but I'm excited to be bringing back my Motherhood and Small Business Series! It's so hard to balance being at home for work, actually getting work done, the housework, and being able to be present with my family. Turning off the computer and phone screens can be difficult. I work so hard to create systems within my business to ensure this, and I can't wait to share things that have worked for me, and things that haven't.  

So, if you have any questions or things you'd like to talk about- let me know! I'd love to chat through things! I'm planning on talking about being pregnant in the middle of busy season, surviving morning sickness and weddings, and seasons of hustle vs rest.  

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Weekend Update

Y'all, I am loving these off-season weekends! I think in the midst of crazy season, I forgot how 'normal' people do weekends. Being able to have slow mornings, drink coffee in bed, and eat breakfast together as a family before running errands, or getting on with our day is always such a treat for us! Don't get me wrong, I do absolutely love wedding season, but there's something so refreshing and rejuvenating about these slower weekends, even if they are filled up with house projects! We are working hard to finish up the last of the house projects and will hopefully be listing our house here shortly! 

While I do really, really hate the cold, I am fully embracing the slower days, where I am getting used to shorter office hours, and getting caught up on those extra projects I always mean to get done, but don't take priority. I absolutely love crossing these things off my to-do list! Let's be real, I love crossing anything of my to-do list! ;) 

Some iPhone photos to overview the weekend: 

Emerson loved celebrating St. Patricks Day (mostly at school, cuz even with the best of intentions, I don't do these fun and extra things very well).  She picked out her own outfit and rocked her feathered head band. 

As always, follow along our crazy journey through Instagram Stories! 

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Ashley Eiban is a wedding and portrait photographer based in Central Virginia. Serving Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Farmville, Richmond, Roanoke, and surrounding areas. Currently booking a limited number of weddings and portrait sessions for 2017.  Available for travel world-wide.  

Ashley is Mom to 5 year old, Emerson and is passionate about balancing Motherhood and your chasing your dreams and providing for your family.   Contact me today for additional information! 

Motherhood Moments: The little things are what matters

Today's post is something that I really struggle with, and the more Moms I talk to, the more I find out that I'm not alone. It seems in this day and age where we are bombarded with everyone's 'best of' moments through social media, I feel the constant need to be THE best Mom ever.  You know, to constantly be doing fun things, making everything a teaching moment, and for her to always be having fun.  Let's be real here- this isn't possible. If we were sitting and chatting over some wine and you were telling me you were struggling with these things, I would tell you the very same thing. You're going to make yourself crazy.  

We all have our own strengths and weaknesses, and this is especially true in Motherhood. I have a friend that looooooves baking, and almost every day makes something healthy and fun with her kids.  I see her doing that and instantly feel guilty... do slice and bake cookies count as a baking project with her, cuz that's about the extent of baking I'm capable of... and even then, there's a good chance they're going to be burnt.  I have another friend that is so good at getting down on the floor and playing with her kids. She sits there and plays doctor, or barbies with her kids. I've tried doing this too, (yall, it's so boring!!!). I'm no good at it!!  Basically, I want to be able to take Em on family trips and bake, and play, and do all the fun things, all the time, every single day. 

Being a working Mom (yes, especially Moms that are  working at home!!) means that I have to prioritize my time, that I can't always be there, available and ready to play and do the most amazing things all the time.  I start to feel so guilty because I'm not giving her my undivided attention some days.

Can we be honest here for a second- kids don't need our complete attention all the time. They need to learn how to play on their own, use their imaginations, and not rely on us so much all the time. I need to be okay with not always being in "Mom mode."  

I was talking this out with someone the other day and she made such a great point.  There are some seasons where we will spend so much time together- in the summer, we will go to the pool multiple times a week, we will get ice cream, and go on adventures, and that is all so great and so fun. But there are also seasons where I need to get work done, and that's okay too. As long as I'm being purposeful about spending some quality time with my family, that's okay.  All Emmie needs is a little one-on-one time with me for it to make her day. I don't need to have this 'all or nothing' mentality.  If I can spend 15-20 minutes creating with play dough with her, that little block of time is the quality time that she needs for the day. But, those 15 minutes need to be completely focused on her. Put the phone away, turn off the email notifications, and sit and talk and play with her. It's the little moments, where we can be fully present that are going to make the biggest difference.  

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Ashley Eiban is a wedding and portrait photographer based in Central Virginia. Serving Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Farmville, Richmond, Roanoke, and surrounding areas. Currently booking a limited number of weddings and portrait sessions for 2017.  Available for travel world-wide.  

Ashley is Mom to 5 year old, Emerson and is passionate about balancing Motherhood and your chasing your dreams and providing for your family.   Contact me today for additional information!