Oh hi! Let me introduce myself | Virtual Assistant

So how did I get here?

Not here in Austin…like here..as a virtual assistant. haha.

Okay, so - I started virtual assisting for other photographers after spending over a decade in the industry myself. Way back when I graduated high school, I was already shooting weddings on my own. I knew I wanted to work for myself and I LOVED photography, so I pursued a full time photography career at 18. All of it came to a screeching halt when I got chronically sick that same year. What started out as mono lingered for months and started getting worse. I spent the next year in doctor’s offices getting tests done but no one could figure out why I was bedridden & in daily pain. I had been an athlete in high school and rarely got sick before this. Everyone was confused :P
I still photographed a few weddings through that year but OOF it was rough.

Finally I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease, which is a debilitating multi-systemic disease with no cure. At that time, there were also almost no treatment options. While my friends were off at college and getting married, I was definitely NOT dating lol, and spent ALL my time trying new treatments, or in doctor’s offices.

After 4 years, my efforts started to pay off, I went into “remission”, and I slowly slowly started re-entering normal life.

My dream of being a photographer had been completely abandoned, and I told myself it was just a phase. I really wanted a job where I could go to work, after being cooped up for so many years. So I started coaching club swimming. I LOVE competitive swimming & had been a swimmer, so this was perfect.

I spent the next 6 years building a career as a full time competitive swim coach. And let me tell you: the schedule SUCKED. I often spent 7 days a week on a pool deck. Coaching until 10pm. Traveling for brutal 3 day weekends of work, only to go right back on deck the next day. And obviously this was not a lucrative field.

So I started wondering what I was doing with my life, and wanting out.

And while I did meet my husband on those pool decks, and was now happily married to my best friend - I was craving my original dream of working for myself. I had kept my foot in the photography world this whole time, running mini sessions each Fall or doing company headshots for local businesses. Just enough that I never QUITE put my camera away, despite telling myself I was “done” with photography ha.

So! In 2019, I made the shift and opened my photography business.

I dove into education, and became obsessed with systems & learning the admin work. Shooting felt like an extension of my brain at that point (it had been over a decade since I started photography), but the admin & systems were intriguing to me.

I opened my full time boudoir business in July of 2019, and found out I was pregnant in September. I worked hard through my pregnancy to build the business to where it needed to be.

I spent the last two months of pregnancy in the hospital with preeclampsia. And became a first time mom at the end of April, 2020. Which, you know, was RIGHT at the start of the pandemic. (We did the whole: meeting family through windows thing and quarantined for the first several months of his life).

I started working again, and consistently booking out my photography business even during the pandemic. I had an in-home studio, and hosted several boudoir events as well. But somewhere in becoming a parent & navigating the ever-changing world of COVID I started realizing what I loved about my business was the admin & computer work. And the flexible days I could work from home with no shoots.

It took lying down my photography ego to see what had been in front of me the whole time: I wanted to be a VA.

I had seen VAs online but immediately dismissed it because “I was a photographer”, and I had quit my entire coaching career to be a photographer. But finally FINALLY I just said: yes. And admitted what I wanted.

The moment I started building this VA business behind the scenes I could tell it was different. Everything was aligned. I had a clear vision for everything. I immediately felt the perfect fit.

I launched in November of 2021 and was booked solid within a week.

Everything clicked. I faded out my photography business by the next month, and have almost tripled my income goals now at month 3. It’s a dream come true and I absolutely love my job. It took sticking with it through the moments where I wanted to throw it all away to find this good fit for me.

And now it makes me smile that all the time I thought I was building a photography career, I was actually getting all the tools & education I needed to be an successful virtual assistant for photographers.

So there you go, that’s my story. If you made it this far, I applaud you.
You can get to know me more on my IG, I post a lot about day-to-day life in my stories.

And here are some photos of me & my family from my branding shoot I did with JC Jones Photography back in September on a parking garage rooftop in downtown Austin. Forever some of my favorite photos of myself.

Looking for a virtual assistant? Hire me HERE.