The end of an era

Tomorrow marks my last day of work for 2010! Just one small delivery to take care of over the christmas week but apart from that, thats me done! For most people this is just the norm around christmas, for me it's on a whole new level!

I started my own photography business at the age of 19 - perhaps looking back I was young and naive, but I was also excited, ambitious, and nervous to say the least! Not only does tomorrow mark the end of my 2010 working year, but it also marks the beginning of the end for my business. This is step 2 of my new 2011 Plan (step 1 being this blog!). I've made the very hard decision to close the business that I spent every waking moment in the last 2 years dedicating my life to. Why? Loads of reasons if I'm honest - Firstly, I'm 21, I want to be out enjoying life, working 40 hours a week and enjoying the rest of my time off - not working 60+ hours a week! Secondly I want to be annonymous again - be able to come home and not worry that people are phoning me at 9pm to talk shop, or that I can plan a trip to town on a Saturday without having to call in with a customer on the way past. Lastly I guess life has just naturally let me wind the whole thing down over the last few months which creates a perfect opportunity for me to finally get working on that degree I've wanted for a few years now!

What this means for me? Well apart from the one order tomorrow, and a further delivery over christmas I have a full month off - the most amount of time I've had off since I started the business - time for family and probably more importantly time for fun! At the end of January I'm starting a new job which perfectly fits in with step 3 of my plan!

So many people have asked if I'm making the right decision, others have asked me to stay - the truth is, when you wake up in the morning dreading work, or you can't sleep at night because it's all you think about - then yes I guess this is the right move for me.

So tomorrow at 2pm I hope to be sitting in my living room, enjoying a glass of wine, and a toast for the end of an era!