Taking inspiration from clients… Because we ALL have low moments
Wow! What a whirlwind 4 weeks it has been… I have even just been to check where I was up to on the monthly blog as it does not feel like only a month since I checked in with you all. What a way to celebrate our first birthday, at Studio1825 - home of Be Bold Be You and Be my Baby UK!
Can I be honest? I have been on a bit of a “downer” over the last 4-6 weeks. Family politics, counselling, kids off school as well as wanting to get the launch of a national press release, with the BBC, right so Alison got the coverage she so rightly deserves! The studio has been quiet… I don’t mean the desk part of the job - that’s been rammed but the studio has been quiet with people (both BBBY clients and our family based clients over with Be my Baby) as it appeared the general public are still scared by the covid pandemic. Let’s not be wrong about this - the pandemic is still here! A lot of the people we work with, whether it be the newborns through to our boudoir clients, have been or still are classed in the “at risk” category and the lifting of bans has meant individual anxieties have been heightened for many reasons which I won’t go in to right now. As a small and independent, family run, business if our studio is quiet then we don’t get a wage! I’ve been playing over in my head about how we can cater better for people and if there is anymore we can do and I have to remember that, quite frankly, I’m not the Prime Minister and I can’t have all the answers for everyone - professionally or personally! However, by not having those answers then my self esteem and my self confidence has taken a serious knock. It’s very easy in our industry for everybody to say “yup, I’m doing amazingly!” but I hope a bit of honesty from this neck of the woods helps somebody, somewhere. (Boris and Rishi, if you’re reading this, if you could just make your mind up on both advice and independent business help & support that would be amazing!)
So, how do I get myself out of that rut? That downer? That voice that says “Kirsty, you are doing it all wrong!”. Blumin’ heck - in the last four weeks there has been so much inspiration knocking on my door that it’s been both refreshing and comforting to see and be a part of! From the national (and international!) news I am in awe of the Olympics… From the amazingly talented Simone Biles being brave, and Bold, and putting her needs first through to our very own Tom Daly, wearing, quite literally, his hobby and another passion on a public sleeve and knitting away in those stands over in Tokyo (if that doesn’t scream Be Bold Be You then I don’t know what does!).
And then we have got the most amazing, Alison Walker of Alvaston in Derby. Isn’t she incredible? Our blog on social media classing Boudoir as Porn got the BBC’s attention but Alison took it way beyond anything we could have imagined and I am both proud and grateful to her and her family. Alison’s honesty, the raw but passionate words and the want to embrace her journey with the BRCA cancer gene was just something else. She’s even inspired another #BBBY client, Dawn, to find her calling in life and take her story of gastricband surgery, parenthood and weightloss to instagram and the national press (watch out Phil and Holly, that sofa is wanted!!)
I am so honoured, in my line of work, to meet ladies with stories and that are willing to let us in, to tell us their history so that we can work with them to mark a new chapter in their lives through the genre of Boudoir photography. I’m saddened that the UK industry, and worldwide industries (did you know… I was thrown out of a photography group, to do with arts therapy, this month because the work we do was not academic enough?! REALLY!) can’t work together to ensure that those needing this “this is me” moment in their lives, through the realm of Boudoir, are looked after in a professional and appropriate way but that’s one for another day! (If you can’t wait for the “next day” visit our Facebook page to see mine & James’ brief discussion on why the UK industry seriously needs to buck up its ideas on client care!).
In July, I asked our BBBY tribe, via our FB group, if anyone would be willing to write this month’s blog on goals, achievement and success with the Olympics being the theme to tie it all in. What I actually, now, know is that I was looking for a kick to say “keep going, the sunshine is coming”. I was thrilled when this lot immediately said “yes!” and, bless them, within an hour they’d replied with some beautiful comments on what it meant to be Bold, to them).
It may be raining today, here in Belper, Derbyshire, but the sunshine is back in my eyes, I’m hopeful for the future and excited for what I can learn from this month of Be Bold Be You moments with our clients. Thank you Olympics, for giving the theme for this month’s blog, but a huge thank you to the #BBBY tribe for putting my back bone, quite frankly, back where it needs to be.
Kx
