Before I get into what to leave behind in 2024 (and what I’m going to be leaving behind), I want to say I am so happy to be back writing on this blog. This is such a great way for me to keep my lovely and amazing followers and friends up to speed with what I have been doing. I am so truly grateful for everyone who has stuck with me throughout the last 15.

In October 2021, after months of planning, I decided to move from Seattle Washington to Paris, France after years of dreaming about it. Many people call me brave or courageous, but I simply didn’t want to miss the chance of chasing after a massive dream of mine. While trying to adjust to life here in Paris last year, I felt I had really lost my passion and lacked my “umph” to push my business forward. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved photographing couples and families here in my favorite city, but the drive to move and push it forward to grow was seriously lacking. There was no momentum, which if you know me, you know I am an extremely driven and hard working woman. Even one of my best friends had mentioned it to me when she came to visit in October. It just wasn’t there. I felt stuck.

I had another photographer friend come join me in Paris for a morning on her way home to Spain. When we sat down and talked about work, she said my energy shifted and I just lit up. She told me “you really need to teach!” To be honest, it didn’t surprise me. However, the more I thought about doing it, despite being super excited about the possibility, I felt like an imposted or failure. I didn’t see what I had to offer that others weren’t offering already. And then I remembered Marie Forleo’s book “Everything Is Figureoutable.” I read it back in 2021 and remembered how she talked about everyone’s unique gifts and talents that they had to offer. To be honest, over the last two years of working on my personal, professional and mental wellbeing, I realized this again when I found certain speakers really influence me more than some other’s who were also telling me the exact same thing. You know what I’m talking about right?

When November rolled around, I started really focusing on what it was that brought me joy and made me come alive. What inspired me and made me happy? For me, it was helping others and teaching them the skills I have learned over the last 15 years of being a photographer. One thing about me is that I am a constant learned and am always seeking out new information, new ways of doing things and always trying to perfect the system. I love finding ways that make things run better and smoother, even if it goes against what everyone is doing. For me, it’s key to why I am successful in my career.

By December it hit me. I was solid in my plans for the future and felt this massive surge of energy and excitement. I felt like I was back. It had been forever since I felt this way. I had played around with the idea of starting a branding company or doing a workshop, but it felt overwhelming and I felt like I couldn’t do it alone. The funny thing is that people ended up coming to me asking to start projects up that aligned with what I wanted to do. It was as if the Universe was telling me “You got this. We support you.” So there it is- the big news. My dear friend and I are starting a branding business to help new businesses grow with great content and copy to grow their small business. On top of that, I will be co-hosting a workshop for photographers that not only focus on photography, but mental health to help move through major mindset blocks that hold artists back from creating the life and career that they want. HUGE things are happening this year and I can’t wait to share more, so be sure to sign up for the newsletter to be the very first to know.

All this being said, I am leaving some things behind in 2024 that makes me a little sad. One of them is photographing weddings full time. I love photographing weddings, and I plan to still take on a few, but I am only taking on a small percentage so that I can focus on helping others build their businesses and careers. I have been insanely blessed having a thriving six figure business over the last 10 years and I want to help others achieve their dreams too. I will also be taking less social media planning and photography editing services. If I can help photographers learn how to curate social media or edit their photos better, to me that is much more useful and beneficial. Learning new things is scary, but it has been so rewarding personally. Learning new skills and daring myself to go where I have never gone has given me self confidence that I never had before. I have more faith in myself and knowing that I can achieve so much more than I thought I’d be able to achieve.

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One more thing that I am doing that has scared the living crap out of me to do. I’m starting a podcast. Yes, I am starting a podcast. That is the craziest and scariest thing I have said to anyone and it feels absolutely insane saying it. As a huge fan of podcasts, I never in a million years thought I could do it, but I see a need for it. I have been blessed to be on so many amazing podcast episodes and want to be able to share my knowledge with others. As a bonus, I want to tell stories of all the incredible things I see and people I meet here in Paris.  With so many new things, I am going to be launching a newsletter to keep you informed when anything new comes out or is announced. You can sign up by clicking this link HERE.

In 2024 I want to leave behind negative self talk and feeling like an imposter in everything I do. I recently listened to an episode of the Mel Robbins podcast where she interviewed her daughter about feeling like an imposter and how she overcame it. It was an incredibly profound episode for me and I took so many important messages from it. I hope you get a chance to listen to it and my wish is that you can feel comforted the way I did after listening.
So… what are you leaving behind in 2024? What is no longer serving you? Is it a practice, mindset, friend? Leave me a comment and tell me what you’ll be saying “au revoir” to this year.
Big hugs,
Courtney