I worked in corporate life, even in a sales-oriented organization in one of the biggest banks in Turkey for many years, and I always dreamed of not working so hard while dreaming of my own business 🙂 I was wrong 🙂 You work much harder to be successful in your own business. The difference from corporate life is to do this more pleasantly and willingly.

Everyone is trying to find work and life balance, but I can say that very few people succeed. I can’t tell you not to work more than that many hours a day, not to do that these days. There is no one-size-fits-all formula. Everyone has to find this balance in their own way because each of us is in a different situation. We all have different priorities, goals, family situations. In fact, what is right for you today may not be for tomorrow.

When I first started photography, I didn’t have a daughter yet, I was working full time in a company. Also, I was trying to start a photography business. Birth and newborn photography wasn’t that popular back then, and I had to do a lot of research to find information and tackle everything from scratch. Of course, when we were talking about full-time photography in the evening, we had been devoting a very short time to our private life.

Then, the priorities have always changed when it comes to establishing a studio, relocating the business to a new place, and then moving to another country, starting a business from scratch here again. But I did not repeat the mistakes I made in the first place in the balance of work and life. I built myself an excellent system that works for me. First of all, you need to have a PLAN. You should definitely set aside time for this. If you start all the work directly, after a while you will lose yourself and none of your work will go completely.

In your plan, you should clearly write your goals and the path you will follow. Be very careful that it is a realistic plan. Too optimistic or pessimistic plans will again let you down and you will find yourself fluttering in a loop. There are very good programs for this. I used to work in Excel at first, then I started using a CRM program to manage my work and automate everything. Customer management, social media management, billing, the appointment system, campaign management, contracts, website management… the time I would devote to all of them and what I would do was planned. When this happens, believe me, your stress decreases and you start to enjoy the non-photographic work you do.

Of course, I focused on my own development and getting better at photography. I outsourced other work as well. You can share business with your spouse, assistant or partner. Don’t try to do all the work alone. This means both a waste of time and a waste of money for you, as well as lowering your motivation in a short time.

There is much more to talk about on this subject. For example, the time we spend on social media:) Sometimes you get stuck on something and you hang around for hours in an unproductive way.

Be sure to plan. SET YOUR PRIORITIES. Don’t bother with what you can OUTSOURCE. Organize your time well for SOCIAL MEDIA. Make sure to do something for YOURSELF every day!. Take time to celebrate your achievements.
How do you maintain a work-life balance?