Girl Boss Culture | Virtual Assistant for Photographers
Remember back in 2014 when Girl Boss Culture was on the rise? I won’t name names, but there were some big influencers in the photography space (and elsewhere) talking all about how to be a boss ladyyyy. I’m all for women in charge, but can we talk for a minute about how that whole vibe might just be rooted in patriarchy?
Allow me to get on my soapbox for just a minute…
As a fellow woman business owner with a tough work ethic, I was will be first to admit that I tripped and fell down the rabbit hole of Girl Boss Culture. I was eager to learn and absorbing all the info on how to hustle and charm my way into a wildly successful business. If I could just figure out how to “boss” a little better, everything would snap into place. “Be yourself!”, they said. “Just show up!”, they said. “Be relatable!”, they said.
But somehow, it alway felt like chasing my own tail. Like if I could JUST GET THE FORMULA RIGHT- I would win.
I remember going to a conference that was all about how to hustle harder. And while I was pumped and inspired, I also felt lost in the sauce as a photographer.
(Funny enough, I came home from that conference and immediately started trying to systemize the information to make it sustainable as workflow + practice for me. I had poster boards all over my house designing automations and systems. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN I WAS GOING TO BE A VA lol)
As my business started growing, I started hustling harder. I worked and tried and pushed myself more.
Girl Boss Culture says if we work hard enough, we can attain the success we look for.
But what ended up happening was that I burned out. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do anymore. I felt incapable and tired and… lame. I tried and I couldn’t get it off the ground with just an authentic instagram presence and a whole lot of grit+heart.
I mean, I was shooting full time but I wasn’t fulfilled and it wasn’t growing. And I. was. exhausted.
I’ll never forget sitting in my living room one day, and just had a wave of realization wash over me. I was going to do this differently, or I wasn’t going to do this at all.
In that time, I had already started deconstructing the idea that I needed to just hustle my ass off in order to make it work. I was reading books about building a business by women (this is a good one!). And following successful women online who talked about how femininity and strength as a woman would take you far in business.
What if… the girl boss culture message of hustling and working your ass off was rooted in patriarchy?
What if the intuition and skills I hold as a woman (whether from biology or social conditioning or both) were actually what made me really good at business??
So I changed! The number one thing I did to pivot myself out of hustling was to trust myself. I decided to run my business out of self-trust. So many things started changing:
I made more confident business decisions.
I allowed myself to be supported, and hired a team which allowed me to make more $$
I defined success for myself. And when I met all those goals, so I defined it again. (Rinse and repeat)
I invested financially into my business with new equipment to make my life easier and elevate my client experience.
I put my kiddos into childcare so I could have uninterrupted time to grow AND time to rest.
I made six figures my first year doing this (and every year since).
I started taking days off to rest my brain, and then coming back to the office fresh.
I was able to take maternity leave without (too much ;) anxiety that my business would fail while I was gone.
And so many more smaller benefits I could’t even begin to describe. My mental health got so much better, and I credit a lot of my success to my pivot away from the mindset that I needed to PUSH PUSH PUSH in my business, and instead trust my own instincts and nurture what I knew was right for me.
There are so many ways to run a successful business. And I would be that your instincts are right for yours. Consider this your invitation to hire help, trust yourself in the process and watch your business flourish.