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Behind the Scenes: How I Balance Motherhood and a Full-Time Photography Business
41 Plays8 hours ago
Episode Summary:
In this candid solo episode, Elena Blair pulls back the curtain on one of the most frequently asked questions she receives: "How do you do it all?" Elena addresses the misconception that she built her empire entirely on her own while raising children. She shares her honest journey from being a young, isolated mom and NICU nurse to becoming a high-volume photographer, and educator, and the essential role that support played in that transformation.
Elena dives deep into the "guilt-free" necessity of childcare, tracing her path from hiring a babysitter for just four hours a week to eventually transitioning her children into full-time preschool as her business demands grew. This episode is a permission slip for any photographer who feels divided between their passion and their parenting. Elena discusses why getting help isn't just a business strategy, it's a way to become a more present, intentional mother and a successful artist.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- The Reality of the "Solo" Journey: Why Elena believes being transparent about having help is vital for the creative community.
- Starting Small with Support: How Elena began with just four hours of childcare a week when disposable income was tight.
- The "Divided Parent" Trap: Why working during nap times and playtime can lead to burnout and how focused work hours change everything.
- Transitioning Careers: The steps Elena took to replace her nursing income with photography, eventually doubling and tripling her previous salary.
- Inspiring the Next Generation: How building a business as an artist teaches your children that pursuing their own creative dreams is possible.
- Setting Boundaries: Learning to treat your photography like a real business by establishing clear working hours.
Links & Resources:
- Behind the Scenes: Follow Elena on Instagram to see the highlights from the recent Mastermind Retreat.
- The "Love, Love, Love" Podcast: Listen to Elena’s guest appearance on Jan Palmer's show for the full story on her career and personal transitions.
Connect With Me:
- Follow me on Instagram
- Join my Facebook Community
- Visit my Website for More!
Subscribe & Review:
If you loved this episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps the podcast reach more photographers like you. 💛
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Transcript
Insights from Elena S. Blair Retreat
00:00:01
Elena Blair
Happy February empowered listeners. I am recording this solo episode to talk about something that was brought to my attention. um at my recent photography retreat, the Elena S. Blair Mastermind Retreat that I just had in Palm Springs. If you missed it, check out the behind the scenes on Instagram. We have a story highlight that shows all of the goodness that happened there.
00:00:23
Elena Blair
But I wanted to just candidly talk a little bit about something that was brought to my attention and that we really discussed a lot that I wanted to just bring to listeners, bring to the world and be really transparent and honest about this.
How Did Her Photography Journey Begin?
00:00:39
Elena Blair
So I am, as I always say, unapologetically a mom with a camera. I started my photography business because I was taking pictures of my kids and that was getting attention. and My son, who is 18 years old, ah is really the reason that I became a photographer. He um was an intense baby and I was home with him. I was a young mom. I had him when I was 24.
00:01:08
Elena Blair
And I was feeling isolated. i was feeling a little lost and I started taking pictures of him and that became an obsession because I realized in that, in that process that I wasn't just capturing what he looked like and he was a beautiful baby, but I was capturing his personality, who he was with my camera. And I think a lot of you who are listening can probably relate to this, this invitation into creativity, into becoming a photographer.
Balancing Nursing and Photography
00:01:37
Elena Blair
Cut to had my next baby. She's now going to be 16 this year. And I was inspired to start a business. I was working full-time night shift as a registered nurse. I was a newborn intensive care registered nurse for 10 years. And I listened to my intuition and I dove in and I taught myself all of the things that i know about business and about photography. And it was Definitely, you know, trial and error and uphill battle. A lot of you probably can relate to this. Some of you are probably there right now. You're starting, maybe you have another job, maybe you're a stay-at-home parent, whatever, all of that.
00:02:16
Elena Blair
And you're trying to find answers. And that's probably how you found me. But something that i wanted to make really clear is that I didn't do this and I don't do this without help, without support.
Financial Challenges and Family Balance
00:02:31
Elena Blair
Now, when I first started my photography business back in 2010, was very much in debt. um Salary as a nurse um on top of my husband's teaching salary was barely enough to survive in Seattle. And we didn't have a lot of disposable income. And so I did start probably the first year building my business. Like some of you may also be doing during nap time after they went to bed, When I wasn't working as a nurse, I had a lot more energy. I feel like those days I was younger, but pretty fast.
00:03:08
Elena Blair
And I did co-op preschool too. So I was, um if you aren't familiar with what co-op preschool is, it means that you are working in the preschool and you do get a little bit of time off. So my son at the time was three and I had him a little bit of preschool time, but I did have that that newborn, my now 16 year old with me. And i I did that alone. And I remember exactly how old she was until she was about 18 months old.
00:03:34
Elena Blair
And it got to the point where I realized that I was being 50% mom, 50% a business owner, 50, or my percentages don't even make sense. I was spreading myself so thin. I was also working as a nurse.
00:03:45
Elena Blair
And so i realized that I needed some support and, um, My ex-husband at the time was a coach too. So he was a teacher during the day and then he had to be at athletics after school. So I didn't have a lot of help at home. And am an attachment parent. I let my kids sleep with me until they were three. They were with me a lot. I really wanted to be a present mom. But what i realized that is if I wanted this to grow enough to be able to leave my job as a nurse, that I did need focused time.
The Impact of Childcare on Business Growth
00:04:14
Elena Blair
And so when my daughter was about 18 months old, I got a part-time babysitter, nanny, whatever you want to call it. Her name was Jenny. She ended up being with us for like 10 years, um, a really long time.
00:04:29
Elena Blair
And i got her to come in and start helping me with the, um, childcare part of my life about eight hours a week.
00:04:40
Elena Blair
I started with her a lot less than what it ended up being. And that was imperative to my success. And I want to say this and be honest, because I think that a lot of us who start this, who are also very present mothers, have a lot built around childcare.
00:04:59
Elena Blair
I was like that. um And when I did that, when I got the support immediately, eight hours a week. So I would do like two hour blocks at a time. um and I would sometimes have her come in while my son was in preschool so I could have, you know, complete focused time.
00:05:19
Elena Blair
And that was a game changer. and it was a tricky situation from a financial standpoint because I really didn't have a lot of disposable income, but I knew that in order for myself to be able to build this business that I wanted and for me to also be a really good mother, I couldn't be constantly
Transition to Full-Time Photographer
00:05:37
Elena Blair
divided. So when I didn't have help, there weren't clear working hours. And so I'd be, you know, playing with them. You have the kids on one of them on a blanket, the baby, my son playing Legos. And I'd be on my computer, you know, trying to do the things that I needed to do in order to grow my business to the place that I wanted to grow it to. And I felt very divided.
00:05:57
Elena Blair
i felt like I was burning out. I didn't know if it was worth it. And I didn't feel most importantly, I didn't feel like I was being the kind of mom that I wanted to be. And so I'm telling you this because getting support, getting help to build your business is not something that you need to feel guilty about. And I want to be transparent that I did get that help.
00:06:16
Elena Blair
As my kids grew up, I had another baby. I went full time with photography in 2014 when my third baby was born. And that was because I had implemented school photography. So I had income coming in all year and something had to give. And so I knew that I was going to need to give up being a nurse, but in order to do that, that I needed the support possible to make that happen.
Evolving Childcare Needs and Work-Life Balance
00:06:43
Elena Blair
And so at that point, when my third child was born, Jenny, our nanny, was coming in about 12 hours a week.
00:06:51
Elena Blair
And she did that with me until Marlo started preschool at four. And when she started preschool, it was the first time that I put one of my kids into a full-time preschool, not co-op.
00:07:04
Elena Blair
And I did that because I had then got divorced. And I was, um you know, the sole income provider. Long story. I have other podcast episodes as a guest if you want to hear about my marriage dissolving, which was a traumatic time for me, but it was a go time for me too, because I now was going to be the only income earner. And if you want, again, if you want to learn about that, i was on Jan Palmer's podcast called Love, Love, Love. And i share all of that, share all the details. But I really needed this to be full-time at that point.
00:07:37
Elena Blair
I couldn't just be you know, ah working at nap time, working just 12 hours extra a week. So she started a preschool and when she was four, and that was when I went full time as a photographer completely the and totally. um Well, actually, sorry, I had been full time as a photographer for four years, but that was when I needed the the support. I needed her to be in preschool.
00:07:59
Elena Blair
while my other kids were in elementary school so that I could have real working hours. So I'm telling you this to be completely honest. Was I a very stay-at-home type of mom? People actually still think I'm a stay-at-home mom in my kids' circles when I tell them I have this company that I'm running. Some of them are like,
00:08:18
Elena Blair
a little surprised. And I love that about my business because I can volunteer. i can go on field trips. I can be, my daughter's really serious in ballet right now. I can volunteer at her productions, but I also take my business very seriously. And I also treat it like a real business. And that sometimes means getting help.
Establishing Work-Life Boundaries
00:08:39
Elena Blair
That doesn't make you less of a mother. That doesn't make you less of a present mother. In fact,
00:08:46
Elena Blair
When I got support, I was actually more present because then I was working when I was working and mothering when I was mothering and do those lines blur sometimes when you work from home. I mean, in one of my kids' bedrooms right now, of course, But it really was a game changer for me and I don't and didn't feel guilty about it.
00:09:04
Elena Blair
So I just want to be really transparent about that because somebody recently said, well, you've never had a babysitter, right? And I'm like, what, when was that? When was that ever? ah When was that ever conveyed as the message? And I always want to be so transparent.
00:09:18
Elena Blair
So I'm saying this because even if you can't afford a babysitter in the beginning, when you're trying to grow your business, it might mean that you have to have an agreement with your partner. with your parenting partner, whether that be a spouse or the other parent that, Hey, I'm growing this, this is serious. I need focused work time.
00:09:36
Elena Blair
And that's also going to make you a better mom because you're able to focus on your kids when you're with your kids and you're able to focus on work when you're working. Again, I started at four hours a week. I went up to 12 and then eventually i um did full-time preschool with my little one.
00:09:53
Elena Blair
I did co-op with her until she was four. And then I put her into a regular preschool schedule. So she went to preschool like nine to three, same hours as my elementary kids were in school.
00:10:04
Elena Blair
So I'm just being transparent about that. I um want everyone to always know really what's going on behind the scenes in my business. Now, now my kids are 11, 15 and 18. I have a 19 year old stepdaughter. And so they are in school all day. And that is when I work. And the truth is I really never work on the weekends other than
Career Evolution and Family Inspiration
00:10:24
Elena Blair
when I do photo shoots. And I never work in the evenings other than when I have photo shoots. And my photography business now, I used to do like 150 photo shoots a year.
00:10:34
Elena Blair
In 2019, it was my highest volume year. I did 180 that year. And now I do this last year, i did I think photo shoots in And here in I'm do about photo shoots because I'm educating more. and I've been a photographer for 16 years. So I feel like I'm sort of just stepping into the educator role and still going to be a photographer, but that's just from experience. And because I've grown this photography education platform that I've been growing alongside my photography business. So I'm kind of just stepping down from doing as many shoots, but it allows me to have a little bit more of a normal working schedule. So I just wanted to be really transparent about that. I do have help with my children. And even now,
00:11:20
Elena Blair
Even now that my older two are driving and they don't really need me as much, I have a babysitter that helps me drive with my little one. She's a very serious ballerina. She rehearses three to five evenings a week. And sometimes I want to be able to be home making dinner for my kids. It's not even to work. it's so that I can do the other things that I need to do. And so she drives her to ballet a couple days a week.
00:11:47
Elena Blair
And I pay her for that. And I do get help. And I want you to feel the freedom to get help because that was the reason i'm bringing this up is somebody asked me,
00:11:58
Elena Blair
if I had done this, how I had done this without any help. And I want to just be so transparent with you. i do and did get help and I don't feel guilty for that. And you shouldn't either.
00:12:10
Elena Blair
Starting a photography business was one of the, or it was the most transformative career decision I have ever made. I make as a photographer, the taking pictures part double and in some years triple what I was making as a nurse. And I'm home a lot more.
00:12:30
Elena Blair
I'm home way more than when I was a nurse. When you're a nurse, you're gone for 12 hour shifts. You're gone 14 hours at a time. Even if it's only three days a week, that's a lot. That's a big chunks of time away from your kids. And as a photographer,
00:12:42
Elena Blair
Even when I have to go to a shoot, I'm gone for like two hours, three hours, but you do have to put work in other times of the day in order for that to happen in order for you to grow the business, to be the way that you want it to be.
00:12:55
Elena Blair
And you know, this is all everyone's success, what they want. It's different. If for you, you don't want to get childcare and you want to work less, you'll probably make less and that's okay. That might be the season of life that you're in, but I just want you to know and I want you to be really guilt free about getting the help that you need because this matters. The fact that you want this for you matters, but it also matters for your children because when they see you doing something amazing, something you love and they see you putting food on the table as an artist, it's very inspiring. And I will say, that I now my 18 year old son is, he just got into the top music schools in the country. He's pursuing art as a career. And I know that he believes he can do that because he saw his mom building an empire that was based on art right in his dining room or in his sister's bedroom. I work from home. So this is just a candid conversation. i want you to know that you don't have to feel guilty for getting help. And that if that's what you need,
00:14:05
Elena Blair
In order to grow the business that you're trying to grow, do it. You won't regret All right, everyone. Thank you for listening. i will see you in another episode.