Creativity, Productivity & the Pandemic

I'm going to be honest here. I've been sitting on this topic for several months wondering when is the right time to write about it. I've thought about writing it and not hitting publish because, well... I was contemplating on whether or not this topic is relevant to my photography business.

But here's the thing... it's more than relevant. It's essential.

As a small business owner (payroll party of one, solopreneur, or whatever you want to label it as), it's just one person behind this keyboard and that's me... Katie.

I usually leave my emotional posts for my captions on Instagram, but I think there is a place for emotion on my blog and website as well. After all, we are all human. We feed off emotion and the human connection.

I think it's important to discuss how us small business owners are dealing during this pandemic.

​So let's talk about it...​

I think it’s safe to say that most of us haven’t lived through a world-wide pandemic before and that things will never be quite the same. Thinking that we’re staying in quarantine for only a few months is irresponsible and as a business, it’s irresponsible to say the least. So, the best way to get through it is to actually figure out a way through it—responsibly.

As a photographer, as you can imagine I work closely with a lot of different people. Due to covid-19, my business took a hit like so many other businesses. From growing and having a successful couple of years to taking on zero clients in 2020 and fearful of 2021, it's been quite a challenge. Back in 2019, life flipped upside down for me in my personal life. But 2020 flipped the rest of the world on it’s side, and as much as I feel like it’s been a rough year I feel that my experience in 2019 made 2020 more bearable.

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On the other hand, there has never been a time where my business has had the opportunity to take a step back and see where my workflow, processes and protocols can make improvements.

​Here’s what I’m doing in my business to stay focused and keep productivity high and creativity flowing during quarantine:

1. Listening to podcasts

I’m always listening to podcasts to give me ideas that help with strategies within my business.
Sometimes listening to other case studies help with seeing how others have paved the way for themselves sparks ideas or obvious things I can implement into what I do everyday.

2. Journaling

Journaling has always been a big part of what I’ve done since I was a kid.

Tossing and turning is a very big deal when I cannot get an idea out of my head which is when journaling is the best solution.

3. Reading

Audiobooks are getting bigger and bigger nowadays, but there’s something satisfying about physically reading a book and being able to take notes within the books themselves.

4. Experimental Photoshoots

While being in quarantine does have a lot of limitations in terms of photoshoots among other things, but what it does is force a different level of creativity to flow when in other times it would have never even crossed our minds.

*Side note: More on these experimental shoots in an upcoming blog post.

5. Batch Working

Creating awareness of what needs to be done and scheduling days and times of when you’re in the right zone of genius to work on your ideas.

At the end of the day, you want to be mindful of where your energy goes and how you spend these times.

If you think of it like this:

Everyone is going through this at the same time with a common enemy. Why not leverage this time the most you can to advance your skills, knowledge and time.

Overall, I think it's safe to say that I am beyond grateful to the people I have surrounded myself with in and out of my business that have made this time bearable and do I dare say...easy. When I reflect back years from now, I won't be thinking about that one time I didn't post on social media and how I lost followers. Instead, I will be thinking about how graceful and thank I am to have had amazing people who have supported me during this time. 

When mental health in this country is a huge topic, I think it's so important to remember that behind every blog post, Instagram caption or marketing emails there is a single person with a beating heart behind it all. So let's be kind to one another so we can get through this all.

There are signs of "We're all in this together" on everyone's social media feeds so let's actually do it. Let's remind ourselves that we are not alone in this. 

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I'd love to get to know what other tactics you've created particularly during this crazy pandemic. Comment below or shoot me a direct email at katie.chavarin@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you!

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Image in this blog post was provided by Canva.com