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Wedding jitters
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Downsized and now a Full-time Wedding Photographer
There is light at the end of every tunnel. Cliche, I know, but it is true in my story. I started my wedding photography studio in 2005 as a part-time thing. You can find my work at http://www.alifestudio.com. (I know, shameless plug.) Photography had always been a hobby of mine before that. Since then my business has grown steadily, but my focus was always to keep it part-time. That was until this past October. For my full-time job I worked for a very large bank, the one that has purchased a few large failing banks and made big news back in March for doing this with government help. hint hint I was a salaried program analyst making a little less then 40k a year, and I worked from home about 85% of the time. It was a good job. It paid the bills, and the benefits were outstanding. Well, in October I was informed that I was being terminated (don't you just love that word, terminated, I would rather be told fired), because of the economy. As I was in HR hearing this news, I experienced waves of emotion all at once. Fear, anger, disbelief, but on the other hand I was excited, I mean really excited. This was my chance to make my part-time business a full-time career, and that is what I have been doing since that day. The night I was let go actually booked a wedding. That Friday I booked another wedding, and this one for my highest package. I have not went out to look for a job; I have one and I am now my own boss. The company I worked for gave me a killer severance package. They gave me 60 days paid non-working employment and then my severance pay which will last me until the end of next month. I also was fully vested and was able to take out all of my 401k and pension. That is not something I would have ever done, but in these circumstance, it just made sense. It has now been four months since I was let go, and I couldn't be happier. I have steady wedding inquiries coming in, and this past week those inquires have really picked up. I only need 25-30 weddings a year and I will gross way over what I was paid at my old job. Add taxes and insurance, though, and it's about the same pay. I am finding that brides are not spending as much money, and that is ok. I'm also finding that a lot more brides are holding off until 2010. I think so they can save more money, and wait out the recession. I've been getting a lot of inquires for that year, and this time last year I didn't have one person asking for 2009, they were all 2008. I think my story is a story of hope in this economy. It's the story of America, how we, as a people, can pick ourselves up by our bootstraps. We do not need government or an employer to sustain us. We, as a people, will find innovative ways to feed our families and pay our bills. That is what makes this country so great, and that is the hope I have for our future. Submitted by: Rodney Cool - Owner of Aesthetic Life Studio, LLC http://www.alifestudio.com
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