Timeless, In Home Engagement Photos | J + R

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@sarahellefson

How to take a chunk of time off and have peace wit

How to take a chunk of time off and have peace with your income as an artist. ✨ (Post 2/2)
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BTS how I’ve prepped for time off:
✨ I receive commissions (a.k.a. passive earned paychecks) from various stockists and galleries who use my work in their stores. Some payments are monthly, some are quarterly! I also receive a payout for any work sold directly from my print shop. For each, an automated chunk of that check was put in a separate saving account for 6 months so I could pay myself out when I decided to take time off. (@qapital does this for you, just set and forget. So amazing.)
✨ Any little extra money that came in outside of regular income event-based streams, I also threw in as I could. Little by little, it adds up! Because it was *extra*, I didn't even miss it and wasn't tempted to spend it.
✨ I've thought ahead to business expenses that will happen while I'm *out*. Recurring subscriptions I can't cancel (like client gallery hosting), contractors who serve my business (@inlineaaccounting does our books and @chanelandlee does operations support), any upcoming team member payments for event work. All of it will be covered by the continued earnings of my print shop, I'll just shift that income into paying expenses vs. saving. So simple. So much peace of mind.
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Honestly? I just wish I had hopped on this train sooner. My hope is to keep up this habit so I can fund a longggg staycation or adventure every year for us. My husband and I both work so hard, now that we are growing our family I'm just starting to realize how much time FLIES. A little planning ahead is going to create so many beautiful memories!
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If you are dying to start a print shop, I'll be relaunching Pathway to Profitable Prints next week and the waitlist is in my bio! Hop on for info.💡
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Dream along with me today, if you had three months off and knew your income wasn't going anywhere, what would you do? ✨

How to take a chunk of time off and have peace wit

How to take a chunk of time off and have peace with your income as an artist. ✨ (Post 1/2)
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It doesn't have to be growing your family, you could be itching for a multi-month Bali sabbatical when this craziness is over (okay, who ISN'T here for that), a meandering road trip where wi-fi is non-existent, or setting yourself up for some scheduling freedom. Here's the deal, this just shouldn't be a pipe dream for us entrepreneurs. If it is, why in the world do we do WHAT we do?! (Aside from the fact that we love it and are slaves to our art, could literally never do anything else, I KNOW.)
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There are 100% seasons of hustle when you build a business but if you let that mentality stay in the driver's seat, hello burnout. Here's my recipe for creating 3 mos. of financial freedom.
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📔BUILD UP FINANCIAL KNOWLEDGE: If you are caught in the trap of paying yourself out randomly with client payments and haven't set yourself up with regular income, your homework is reading Profit First.
💡TIP: Implement each step AS you read so you don't get overwhelmed at the end with a bunch of tasks. @qapital is a wonderful tool for making the process super easy, too! Well worth the subscription to get you on a good track.
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🖼BUILD A PRINT SHOP: Make hay while the sun shines, the whole world is spending WAY more time staring at their walls and redecorating in this season, they need your art. Seriously. For photographers (and artists in general), we can get caught up in pushing our service-based business as far as it can go, totally forgetting that the art we have already created holds such deep potential for passive income.
💡TIP: Focus on ways to expand your marketing reach by partnering with stockists and galleries who have an actual advertising budget to get your work seen. If no one is seeing it, no one is buying it. (Let that motivating, not tragic. 🤍)
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CONT’D IN NEXT POST (photo by the always amazing @haley.garces )

My favorite 2020 story still gives me goosebumps i

My favorite 2020 story still gives me goosebumps in the best way.💫⁣
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We decided to take these photos on the same beach we got engaged, on of our fave coastal spots. The first time I swam there last summer RIGHT after I found out I was pregnant, the most incredible pod of dolphins appeared and swam along the break with me for almost an hour. It was seriously this little gift that the next chapter of life was going to be such an incredible experience. 🤍⁣
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The evening we took these, another pod of dolphins appeared and swam alongside us as we walked down the beach. It was UNREAL. Thinking back, it just sends shivers up my spine at how beautiful these moments were in such a dark and chaotic year. ✨⁣
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There’s so many aspects of life I can’t wait for our daughter to experience for the first time but the one I keep coming back to is dipping her toes in the ocean for the first time in 2021.🥰⁣
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I am typically the unluckiest person with dolphin sightings, and so this was honestly extra amazing. Do you guys have any wild “sign” stories?! I can count mine on half a hand, I get so excited hearing them from friends! 😍⁣
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P.S. So, so grateful to Haley for capturing these photos, she makes photos such an easy and downright FUN experience, I’m so grateful to have her on our team.💫⁣
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P.P.S. This dress has been a staple over the past 6 months and it’s a regular dress from Amazon, of all places! I’ve accumulated maternity/non-bump capsule wardrobe I truly love and I’m going to share it after I pull together all the links this weekend. 🤍

Our new website is launching Tuesday! ✨Bright th

Our new website is launching Tuesday! ✨Bright things coming in 2021 ✨
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If you're recently engaged and looking to start planning over the weekend, email hello@sarahellefson.com or slide into my DMs for info ASAP. 🎉
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Happy New Year, everyone!

First photos as a family of three in the spot wher

First photos as a family of three in the spot where we got engaged 10 years ago?! WILD. iPhone snap by our favorite camera wizard @haley.garces 🤍

Win art for your home and lift up a small business

Win art for your home and lift up a small business?! YES PLEASE.✨
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This holiday season, I’m raffling off a print of your choice from the @ellefson_editorial or enrollment in Pathway to Profitable Prints. Not only that, I’m matching raffle ticket purchases dollar for dollar up to $500. 🤍
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All proceeds will go to an anonymously nominated small business who will be getting notified the week of Christmas that they’ve won straight up cash, no strings attached. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
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It’s been a hard year for everyone but especially small business owners. Being an entrepreneur is often lonely and carries a big burden, let’s lift that weight the week of Christmas and make the end of 2020 shiny bright. 😍
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🎉This raffle is open to everyone, share away and spread the word!🎉
(Beautiful photo of my print WHITE SANDS in the lovely home of @jyll_mackie 🤍)

96 years and two days before I was born, this beau

96 years and two days before I was born, this beautiful family wedding took place on a crisp November afternoon....💫
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My aunt Julia wore a cascading dress of liberty satin and a tulle veil fastened with orange blossoms. (OMG!) Favoring simplicity, she carried white orchids down the aisle, accompanied by the soft strains of Wagner's Bridal Chorus floating down from the choir loft of the cathedral. Her only ornament was a handsome pearl necklace, a gift from my uncle Andrew, who was waiting for her at the end of the aisle. 🤍
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All of San Francisco read about the social affair the next day in the Sunday paper, it wasn't often the heiress of a prominent Bay Area real estate investor married a promising young businessman (if Welch's grape juice rings any bells, it's the same family! #claimtofameisgrapejuice). The world was bright that day for the young couple and despite the fact that Julia's family would lose their entire fortune in the stock market crash of 1929 and doom me to the eventual life of NOT being an heiress and very much a working woman, this newspaper clipping is such a gift.👏🏼👏🏼
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I don't have many older family wedding photos save this snippet. Our family's past wealth and fortune in the early 1900's merited documenting this exquisite day and is now preserved in online archives, thanks to the Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research. 🤓
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My husband and I hung our own wedding photo on the wall of our new home last night and thinking about the legacy that lives on in photos always gave me such deep joy. The fact that future generations will have easy access to family wedding photos thanks to the rapid bloom of photography as a regular commodity is incredible and something we don't give thanks enough for as we snap away and fill up our iPhone camera rolls.🤍
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What's a photo that's brought a smile to your face these days? Old or new, tell me about your memory treasure trove!