Hi!
I'm Helen the Proprietor and Lead Photographer behind Dixon & Dixon Photography.
It seems to be the 'in thing' these days to introduce yourself and let people know a little bit more about you. Over the next few blogs, I'll give you an insight into my self employed journey and what goes on.
Firstly, being self employed is not for everyone. It's has a more noticeable financial peak and trough pattern that you don't normally see when you are employed. Unlike working for somebody else, where you get paid the same every week, if my business is doing badly so do I.
Forward budget planning is key, and spotting and working hard during the high times throughout the year helps me during the calmer low times.
My busiest time tend to be from August to April and I peak around December, but you never know what is going to come through the door from one day to the next. I have met a lot of wonderful and interesting people at my studio in Whitchurch, Cardiff.
A lot of my portrait work is given as Christmas gifts, so November can be a real 'full-on' month.
I try to bust out my schedule during these times to cater for my customer's needs, calling in freelance assistants to help and often working on Sunday's too. I don't dislike being busy, but I do love a well earned break when the season is over and the studio returns to a slower, calmer pace.
Everyone needs low times. It's time to rest and restore my vision for the future of Dixon & Dixon Photography and plan for the year ahead. I catch-up on the areas of the business that have been neglected. There is always loads of paperwork to be done like invoicing, book-keeping, paying bills and the end of year, tax return. Being a self employed person it's my responsibility to sort all of this out. I often take a holiday but unlike being employed, I quite often lose out on work and I don't get holiday pay either.
Would I go back to working for someone else? Yes! I would if the conditions were right.
I appreciate my work life balance and the diversity of work that I do at the moment. I've got used to my yearly working pattern and it blends in with my life. Sometimes I think it would be nice to be around other people every day and have the routine of going to the same place, but for a lot of people that does become boring and unfortunately I am a restless type. Also, you can't always choose who you work with, so they would have to be people who hold similar values to myself.
Hx
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