January 9th, 2015 10 years ago. It goes by in a blink. I officially started Reflections By Christina, LLC 4 days before I left United States on a trip that would forever change my life. For the following years there would be sweat, tears, and outside jobs taken just to pay the bills. Yet, I never felt the release to let this one go. So I didn’t. I pivote. Created. Lived. I went back to reflecting life.
Today, I thought back to where I had been, where I am now, and where I want to be. I realized a painful truth. I, myself, as a person have grown so much. But my business has not grown in ways I wanted it to nor allowed to. I kept trying to make it “professional”. Doing things experts say are right. I am for gathering wise counsel. But at the end of the day…it comes down to tracking and doing what is right…for the business.
No. This isn’t a post telling you I’m shutting down. It is a far far cry from it. Its a post telling you I realized its time to amp UP. To do things scared. Stop the talking and start the doing.
It’s time to break the rules
I don’t know where my business will end up and how it will evolve. But I know where I am going. I am an art photographer who has decided to simply incorporate my business as I live life. I am a hairstylist who loves updos, and lives in just barely above 1000 sq ft who is racking her brain on how to re-start the youtube videos again. I’m trying new things involving new strategies that are working for me….and they’re working for my clients.
You, my friend get to come along. I don’t have all the answers. You’ll see a lot of mundane office work. The instagram is going to be filled with real life. And when we go adventures? It will mean something more…because you and I did the boring stuff together. To be sure, there ARE beautiful places, beautiful moments and I want you alongside me to reflect life together. It’s important that words matches my actions.
Travelings with Christina is back both on website and in newsletters. You will also see communications from two another website I have newly started up called Beauty in the midst of Chaos– where we cultivate, explore, and create beauty. A new email newsletter is rolling out called “Lens of Life News” as Beautiful Mondays transitions to another space to Beauty in the midst of Chaos. Do not worry, the content is *exactly* the same simply in a better place that is a more welcoming space. For clients and portfolio work it has been shifted Your Visual Scribe (a website live and still very much in the works) to streamline processes to view and download. It is lives under the umbrella of Reflections By Christina, simply has a different living quarters. This year or early next year will also see a new and revamp “Hello Camera Academy.” Also applying to markets, galleries, and coffee shops…something I’ve been terrified to do. This ambivert lady has a goal of least one perhaps two networking meeting a month…you may find more often in the woods to recharge.
But you know…life is an adventure.
Not everything goes according to plans. I don’t know what LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Instagram is going to look like. I’m looking in the last of 2026 of doing a podcast. But these changes take time. I hate fast changes because they often bring confusions. That is the opposite of what I want. I creating systems that allows me to be consistent, that you know exactly what to expect in all the good ways. These changes are because I both respect you and myself.
I desire for both of us to have a streamline process. This is why even now I’ve been quietly setting things up, slowed things down, amp other things up, and let go so we can grab hold of what is important. Making it easy for you to gather beauty, hang/ set inspirations in your spaces, and gather encouragements for your heart.
