Sunday, October 29, 2006

Another Year

Four years - wow - I can hardly believe how God has guided this journey. Yesterday closed out another year for me so I've been reminising a bit...

I've been thinking a lot about how every three or four years a huge change occurs in our life...elementary school, jr. high, high school, college, marriage (for some :) and so I've noticed the urge to continue that pattern in many of my friends. Over the past year many, almost all, have left their jobs and become self employed or are thinking about it and others have gotten married.

This is an exciting time and I'm excited as well because although I haven't had a career change or been blessed with a wife my business is changing a lot. I've tried to control the weddings I shoot for the past two years and next year my goal is to hold it to 10, I have 9 now so we'll see if I can be disciplined about that. I really want to be careful about shooting too much because my relationships do suffer and I recognized that this year with only shooting 20 weddings. My time in community and fellowship with all of you was limited and that's a big priority for me. I also have learned the value of just spending time thinking because when I spend too much time doing I find myself offering less of value.

- I spent the 1st year of my career learning "how" to shoot and then shooting anything and everything because I loved it.
- I spent my 2nd hear learning "how" to get work.
- I spent my 3rd year learning "how" to handle that work.
- I spent this past year learning "how" to get free from that "work" and get back to shooting for the love of it.


So next year I'm planning to revisit those "Why" questions that I often talk about because they are the important ones. They are the questions that I believe really shape who I am and it's too easy for me to get trapped in the "How" questions and never get back to the purpose of why I'm doing what I'm doing.

I want to encourage you, no matter where you are in your business, to take some time to ask some of those "Why" questions because if you find those answers first you will find that the "How" questions get answered a lot easier.

Blessings,
DJ

12 comments:

Brett Austin said...

That's great advice man!

And great that you are able to sum up the last four years like that. I think there is a saying that... "You can't know where you're going, unless you know where you've been."

Obviously you must have a pretty good idea of where you want to head.

Anonymous said...

That is a great question to ask - thanks for reminding us of it !

Natalie Joy said...

Wow DJ!!
Amazing post!!! now that you just wrapped up your year..you need to come visit us!!!!
:)

Daniel J. Watkins said...

What?

Claire Kayser said...

DJ, you are an incredible inspiration to us all! Thanks for sharing so much of yourself and the way you do your business with all us other photographers out here. I think I can speak for most of us, that we see God's light shining through you. We're thankful that you value relationships and try to keep a balance between work and the people you love. That's something I struggle with in my day to day.

Yes, I will be looking more closely at all that I'm doing.

Thanks for sharing!
Claire Kayser

PS. Come to St. Paul!

Jasmine said...

Dude, you rock. "Why?" Oh, well, there's just too many reasons to get into now! :)
Thanks for such a healthy reminder!

Anonymous said...

dglerheThis is good... very good. Thanks for sharing.

BTW: I saw Barlow Girl on Saturday night. Thought of you.

Robin

|| davidjay || said...

Thank you guys for all the support and for blessing my life so much! I feel like the luckiest boy alive to have people like each of you in my life!

Sarah Barlow said...

Ditto what Jasmine said!
Awesome post! Asking the "Why" questions are always so important and keep you focused on what's most important in life!

Anonymous said...

Great timing at least for us we are i the midst of changes for one of us its to make the big jump and quit his full time job and be with me and our business.
Thank you so much for all of your support and advice!
Sandra

Hollye said...

David,
I'm definitely on that same 4 year track as you. It is time for a change in my life...thanks for the reminder.

;-)

H.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the honesty, and also for getting back so quick with my question through your site :). I'm in ministry full-time and my wife and I have a photo business too so we can stay in ministry in So Cal and do something we love. It's always a balance that you have to keep your eyes and heart on. Thanks for your time saving stuff too- I'm hoping it can keep us shooting, and spending time with our kids...