What I Had to Release to Build the Business I Actually Wanted

I Used to Hold On to Clients, Processes, and Offerings That Drained Me — Until I Realized Letting Go Wasn't a Failure

What the Data Told Me — and What My Gut Confirmed

Year over year, I review the data to see what's working, what's not, and where I can improve or let go. There's always something to tweak. This year, that meant shifting to part time and letting go of the studio. It was a hard decision, but my gut said it was time—and the data backed me up.

From the very start of my business, it was a clean 50/50 split: half my sessions elsewhere, half in the studio. But two years ago, I launched a deliberate transition plan. My goal was to gradually move away from the studio and toward working less overall. Last year, as part of that plan, I shifted my mix to 65% outdoors or in-home sessions and 35% studio. I saw that as a real achievement—proof I was on the right path. That 65/35 split felt like the ideal proportion for scaling back, and my 12-to-16 months of advance preparation was paying off. I featured more creative shoots outside the studio and people responded to it.

The other piece was getting crystal clear on my ideal client. Early on, I was still discovering who I was and what I wanted to do. Along the way, I attracted clients—most of whom I adored and who've stayed with me since the start of Nestology (something I'm deeply grateful for). But there was always that 2% who would've been better matched with another photographer. Last year? I don't think I had a single mismatch. Isn't that amazing? Everyone who came my way felt like someone I'd known forever. That tells me my messaging and branding are finally on point.

How I Actually Make Business Decisions

I came from a corporate background, where my favorite mentor—and friend—drilled into me the importance of data analytics. So when I ventured into running my own business, I've always kept a spreadsheet with handpicked data fields. Pre-AI, I don't think any client management system was detailed enough for the analysis I wanted to run on each client, so I built my own. As soon as a client books, I fill it in. At the end of the year, I analyze it, run the statistics, and draw findings from the data.

Thank you, AI, for making last year easier. I could simply copy-paste and let it handle the aggregation. So yes, that's what I do. I don't make business decisions on a whim. Sometimes it's gut-driven, but a lot of it is rooted in evidence. And I think that's why my business has flourished—because I truly tune into actual client behavior.

But here's what I've also learned: every occurrence is information. A successful launch? Information. A mistake? Information. A failed attempt to reach a target? Still information. You can't always be 100% sure, and you can't stay stuck in the planning stage forever. As an entrepreneur, sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith and try. And if it fails? That's not the worst thing in the world—because failure informs you. It didn't work because of X and Y. That's data too. And you walk away a better entrepreneur. You cross one ambiguous thing off your list and move on to the next. Maybe the next attempt will be so much better because you're more informed by that failed experience. Successes teach you what to repeat. Mistakes teach you what to adjust. Every outcome gives you something. You just have to be willing to read the signal.

Letting Go of Perfectionism — and My Complicated Relationship With Money

This has ultimately helped me let go go of being a perfectionist is really something that has made me a better entrepreneur and person. I've been so scared of making mistakes, so scared of failure — whatever that definition of failure even is. Something can never be perfect at the first try. The more you do something, that's how you become better.

A lot of us female business owners are very hard on ourselves. I'm trying to let that go—just doing the work and seeing where it lands. Sometimes that's the most beneficial thing you can do. Your fear of not hitting whatever targets you've set for yourself can actually hold you back from starting something amazing.

Maybe the first launch hits 50% instead of the 80% you expected. That doesn't mean you failed. It means you just received information: something to improve. So you run another round. Maybe you get 70% this time. Then 90%. That's not failure turning into success—that's information building on information. You won't know any of it until you put yourself out there.

Let the data—whether from a win, a miss, or something in between—simply tell you what's next. That's not being easy on yourself. That's being smart.