The Chaos Threshold

“What’s a ‘chaos threshold’?” I asked. 

She went on to explain how your chaos threshold was actually just as it sounded: your threshold for maintaining chaos; how it had the capacity to be very large, especially if you hold more trauma that most, and could easily become very small once you begin to shift away from chaos in your life. 

This made sense. 

I had recently decided I was done with feeling stressed out, under appreciated, and walked over. I had my own version of what life looked like and I was fed-up with being told my ideas were “too much.” As a result, I had been getting more firm around my boundaries to prevent unwanted chaos in my life. My chaos threshold had definitely decreased.

The more I realized I wanted what I wanted, the less I was interested in anything that took me out of alignment with what I felt my soul was yearning for. I was increasingly understanding that if I wanted to get where I was trying to go, I was going to have to leave some chaos behind and be strategic about the chaos I chose to allow in my space.

I learned shortly after this convo that being aware of your chaos threshold doesn’t mean you’ll have less chaos in your life, it simply means you can choose what you’re willing to allow to disrupt your circumstances– and disruption isn’t always a bad thing. 

If you’re in the Goddess Glow-Up Collective on Facebook, I’ll be spilling the tea on the Chaos Threshold there.

How does the Chaos Threshold fit into branding?

Check out our follow-up to this post here if you want to learn how understanding the Chaos Threshold can help you grow your brand results.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

How does the Chaos Threshold fit into branding?

If you read about the Chaos Threshold (you can click here if you didn’t read it yet), you may be trying to understand how it fits in with branding.

“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

Often, when entrepreneurs and influencers begin their brands, they go in with lots of energy; setting up all of their networks, batch creating content, making new connections for collabs, growing their audience on social. It’s a lot.

As their brands grow, they find themselves feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to maintain everything while still growing their results. Eventually, they realize they can’t continue to grow with the same systems and strategies they were using to get started, especially if they don’t want to burn out. Their threshold for maintaining all the things, the beautiful chaos their brand emerged from, lessens; and they require more clarity and support to continue their growth.

If you’re beginning to realize things are feeling more and more complicated when growing your brand, take a deep breath and know that it is normal. It’s the cycle of growth and you’ll become more and more familiar with how your brand flows through its growth cycles as you keep showing up.

Although things feel complicated, you still have the power to decide what chaos you’re willing to allow into your brand for growth and what chaos you’re going to release to move forward. This can mean taking on two new contracts knowing that you’ll have a pretty sleepless week in exchange for being able give your team that raise you’ve been wanting to as an expression of your gratitude for their dedication and commitment. It can also mean turning down two new contracts because knowing your revenue won’t have much growth, but you’ll be able to refine your automation systems so that you can take on two new contracts in the near future.

Remember, you are the master of the chaos in your life; and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Looking for more tips on brand strategy? Leave a comment below and let me know what brand challenge you’re currently facing.

Shift + Reset: My Secret Weapon in 2020

During my coaching with Dana, she started saying, “You’re getting really good at shifting and resetting.” 

And while I’ve always taken the statement as a celebration of growth, I often found myself pondering it. 

What does it mean to “shift and reset”? And how do you actually do it? 

Now, I’m understanding that it’s more of a release, pause, shift, reset. Or, what I decided, is RPSRR.

In CH one day, I found myself in a room discussing imposter syndrome and perfectionism (I’ll def find the mods). Listening to the speakers share their experiences with overcoming perfectionism resonated so deeply with me. For weeks I’d been struggling with showing up in my own brand after experiencing a system crash, and the pressure was getting too hot to handle. So hot, in fact, I’d been resisting the urge to text Dana. I knew I could find the solution. 

Shortly after that CH chat, I found myself praying, “God, I’m opening myself up to receiving the solution. I trust that I am Divinely Guided.” And I went on cooking breakfast, listening in on CH. 

The day went on, and I was still finding myself resisting texting Dana. Instead, I decided to distract myself with work. Which, in hindsight, wasn’t a very good idea because I was too distracted to be productive. The day was particularly busy, especially with me deciding to host random free brand strategy calls, and the whole time, all I was thinking about was finding the solution so that I didn’t have to text Dana and admit I was neither shifting, nor resetting, and things were going downhill rapidly in neuroland. 

Finally, early in the evening, I broke– I sent the first text. 

See, the thing about texting Dana is that it comes with a heavy consequence: accountability. In our time together, I’ve noticed she has a way of moderating coaching conversations: 

Once you state the problem, the ball is in your court. As the coach, she wants you to win, so she scrimmages you 1:1, but you also know she could own you in a match if she wanted to. The only way to earn any mercy is to show up with your all on the court. In other words, if you come to her with a problem, be ready to own everything that problem comes with– and be ready to rise any way. 

On this day, I just so happened to recognize the Release, Pause, Shift, Refresh, and Rise method I’d been using whenever I’d text Dana during a downward spiral (shout out to the awesome coaches who HOLD SPACE <3). I’m sharing my method I’ve aligned with, hoping that whenever you find yourself, or see someone else, having a moment where things feel they are spiraling out of control fast, you remember the option to RPSRR. 

Release, Pause, Shift, Refresh, and Rise

Release: every time I’ve been able to “shift” through a mental block has been after I release any resistance I have to the final outcome. I mentally prepare myself for the worst scenarios, and remind myself of the favorable possibilities as well, because, balance. 

Pause: releasing resistance is like  you’re playing tug of war with Hercules, and he suddenly lets go– ouch. You’re met with ALL THE POSSIBILITIES of the outcome, and that’s a lot to process. Sometimes, this can take days, you may even need to have a therapy session to help process everything (with a licensed therapist). Releasing is a big leap, give yourself grace as you recover from the impact. 

Shift: once you have your emotions clear, you can shift to realign with your desired outcome. Note: you may have slightly altered your desired outcome, and that’s ok! The important thing is to be aware of where your decisions are forming within you; if you feel like you’re making a choice out of fear, you may need to Pause a little longer. Make grounded decisions as often as possible. Personally, in the middle of Pause and Shift is my favorite time to make decisions. 

Refresh: this stage is interesting. When I’m very aware of myself, I can literally feel the shifting happening within me and around me. I’m inspired, motivated, encouraged, optimistic, all those really awesome ecstatic high-vibe feelings. As much as I love feeling like this, I’ve learned to be mindful of the amount of Refreshed energy I use. If I get ahead of myself, I’ll exert it all at once and find myself in an energetical deficit, not good times at all. 

Rise: refreshed, full of clarity and in the mood for creativity, I choose to rise. That choice to rise comes with consequences, too, but these always feel more aligned with my desired outcome, and I can’t think of a time I’ve regretted the choice. 

I hope you enjoyed my RPSRR method, if so, please leave a comment and share with your friends. With Soul Signature Studios, I truly see it as a one-stop-shop for women to have all the resources to bring her dreams to reality, and sometimes, that only requires a little shifting. Sharing this post helps to share the Mission of Soul Signature Studios, Inc., and I am forever grateful for your support.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t use this opportunity to shine a light on my amazing life and business coach, and friend, Dana of Rich Babe Revolution. Through 2020, she provided so much insight not only into operating a business profitably, but also into the practice of true self-love, helping me to embrace all of TeAirra. A year was just not enough time to take it all in, and I’m so excited to continue to nurture the seeds she’s helped me to sow into my business and community. Dana taught me so much more than business sense, she taught me what it means to be me, and that because I am me, my vision is necessary, just as necessary I believe everyone else is in this world. Most of all, she taught me how to swallow frogs. 
Love, you, Dana. 

How to Create a Strong Brand with VMVG

For all my fellow brand strategists out there, which do you create first, the ICA Profile, or the Vision, Mission, and Values? I’m having a chicken and egg experience thinking about it lol…

For those of you who read above and are wondering if you’re reading what you thought you clicked on: an Ideal Client Avatar (ICA) Profile is a document you create for your brand to define your target audience, a VMVG is what I wrote about below to help you understand how to set your brand up for success by defining its Vision, Mission, Values, and Goals.

Key Points:

• What is a VMVG + Why Writing a VMVG is Beneficial to YOU and Your Clients
• How to Write Your Brand’s VMGV
• Next Steps: Tell EVERYONE
• Share From a Space of Authenticity
  
  

What is a VMVG

VMVG = Vision, Mission, Values and Goals

• Vision: your brand’s idea on how to impact the communities they serve.
• Mission: your brand’s plan for bringing the desired impact to the communities they serve.
• Values: your brand’s guiding principles for executing its Vision and Mission.
• Goals: milestones your brand hopes to achieve in serving communities.

Your brand’s VMVG is your foundation for an amazing client experience because it defines your brand’s culture. Being clear on how you strive to serve your clients not only helps leads to understand some of the benefits of working with you, but also helps keep your brand on-task for delivering the services you provide in a way that is authentic to your brand’s culture.

How to Write Your Brand’s VMVG

Because your brand’s VMVG is the foundation of everything your brand provides, you’ll want to write it down and rehearse it so that the words gracefully roll off your tongue whenever you talk to someone about your brand. You’ll also want your team to understand your brand’s culture; not to fit into the brand, but to add to the culture. Future post =]

Vision: your brand’s idea on how to impact the communities they serve.

Your brand’s Vision tells what you hope to accomplish through your brand’s services and products. Your Vision inspires your team to put their best foot forward in attempting to reach your goals, and inspires your clients to want to work with you because they admire the Vision your brand holds. In short, your brand’s Vision is its reason for existing.

When you write your brand’s Vision, think of the reason you decided to create/build/grow your brand? What Vision do you have for what your brand will bring to its clients/communities/city/etc.? How do you see your brand operating 5-10 years from now?

My Vision for Soul Signature Studios is to provide a space where youth can discover their natural talents and gifts and have a safe community to develop confidence around their talents so they may enter into adulthood feeling prepared to care for themselves physically (financially), mentally, emotionally, and spiritually; while also providing communities with resources to care for their families mind, body, and soul as a one-stop-shop for wellness and small business services utilizing creativity to achieve optimal effectiveness. 

_{This article digs a little deeper in writing strong Vision statements: (https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/guide-writing-perfect-Vision-statement-examples)}

Mission: your brand’s plan for bringing the desired impacted to the communities they serve.

Your brand’s Mission tells how you will accomplish the Vision by speaking to the purpose of your brand’s products and services serving your clients’ biggest pain points. The Mission statement is brief, yet powerful.

The Mission of Soul Signature Studios is to promote healing in communities around the world while cultivating opportunities for personal development through creative exploration and self-love in a judgement-free space.

Our Mission means that everything we do is with the intention to heal communities, cultivate opportunities for personal development, creative exploration, and self-love practice all in judgement-free containers.

Let’s take this blog post for example, it’s encouraging readers to creatively explore their brand’s Vision, Mission, Values and goals. If I were to take this a step further for my clients, we’d have an opportunity for personal development by discussing their goals and obstacles they face when working to reaching them to which we’d develop a strategy to overcome the obstacles, often leading to some form of self-love in order to face the obstacle and do the work to overcome it. By providing products and services to help my clients accomplish their brands’ Missions, I’m aiding in bringing healing to communities because all of my branding clients have goals to facilitate healing through their work.

Your Mission serves as the reminder of what your brand does, how it does it, who it does it for, and why you do it.

_{I found this article of 15 inspiring Mission statements: (https://www.bluleadz.com/blog/15-of-the-very-best-Mission-statement-examples)}

Values: your brand’s guiding principles for executing its Vision and Mission.

Your brand’s Values help steer decisions of all parties in ways that are most aligned to your brand’s Vision and Mission. Having brand Values is like having boundaries: you are making clear statements about what is considered acceptable within your brand’s culture.

Soul Signature Studio Values:

• Creativity: we believe in creative expression and creative solutions; we encourage our members and clients to find ways to be creative in their day-to-day life.
• Compassion: we believe in compassionate consideration among communities; we find ways to add messages of compassion when creating programs, services, and products for our member and clients.
• Wellness: we believe healing others is more effective when you first work to heal yourself; as a creative wellness studio, we provide a variety of services, programs and products to aide our clients and members in maintaining their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness.
• Community: we believe people thrive in environments where collaboration is used to lift one another up; we strive to make collaborations easy to host and organize for our members and clients in a way that benefits all parties involved.
• Integrity: we believe honesty and upholding strong morals are the foundation to success; when we are honest with ourselves and others, our efforts to effect change are most effective.

When team members and clients are also aligned with your brand’s Values, work feels easier and more enjoyable because there is an agreement in place to how you will treat one another during your time together. On the flip side, having clearly stated Values will deflect those who aren’t aligned with your brand, helping you to be more available to the people who will get the most value from your brand’s work.

_{This article has cool ideas to help you brainstorm your brand’s Values. (https://b2b.kununu.com/blog/how-to-develop-and-define-your-company-core-Values-expert-advice)}

Goals: milestones your brand hopes to achieve in serving communities.

Defining your brand’s goals is just about as straight forward as it sounds, just be sure you’re setting SMART goals that align with your Vision, Mission, and Values. These objectives may take one to several years for your brand to achieve, but they will be exciting milestones for your team and clients to celebrate as your brand grows.

Soul Signature Studio’s Current Goals:

• Implement an online community that provides virtual services for members and clients to support their creativity and wellness, complete with programs for families to participate in with their youth.
• Open the first Soul Signature Studios location, converting the virtual programs to in-person events for members and clients to experience.

My favorite thing about being transparent with my audience about the goals in place for Soul Signature Studios is it makes us feel more like a family, they love what the Studio stands for as much as I do. My success is their success because they believe in the Vision. And that’s the feeling you want to create with your VMVG.

Next Steps: Tell EVERYONE

Pair a strong VMVG with a thoughtfully crafted ICA Profile to get the perfect recipe for amazing content your audience CRAVES.

How? When you know exactly who you’re talking to and exactly how you provide value in their lives (thanks to your VMVG), you can now create content that your audience is waiting to fall in their lap. And when you master getting your content to the right people, you have a recipe for the most amazing lead magnet. In the meantime, tell everyone, anyone who will listen, about your brand’s VMVG. Not everyone will be excited in the beginning, but as you build momentum, you’ll start to find that everyone in your audience gets just as excited about your content as you do.

Grab your FREE ICA Profile Worksheet with email companion here. (https://teairramitchell.wordpress.com/2020/11/23/ica-profile-freebie/)

Share From a Space of Authenticity

Having a VMVG written for your brand speaks volumes to your audience by telling them exactly what your brand is all about on one piece of media. Keep your VMVG’s impact by only sharing content in way that feels good to YOU. Don’t mind what everyone else is doing, what are you doing? Worrying too much about what other’s will think or how your performance looks compared to other brands only adds icky energy to your content, and you didn’t work this hard to be icky.

Trust yourself; trust that you created your VMVG with the intentions to provide a service unlike anything your competitors could ever design because there is only one you, and no one could ever begin to replace your creative indulgences.

Focus all your energy on how well you are doing to execute your VMVG in all of your endeavors and watch how it increases overtime.

That’s pretty much all I have on your VMVG, and I want to reiterate: tell everyone, anyone who will listen, about your brand’s VMVG. This helps to build positivity and momentum around your brand, making it easier to breakthrough in your market. Looking for a place where you can talk about your brand’s VMVG? Let’s connect in the comments!

Why Talking to One Person Attracts More Clients

You’re on social media and you’re doing all the things: posting every day, giving solid content, and engaging with your community. How is this going for you? It took me years to understand that the secret to creating content that would earn me clients was speaking to one person.

If you’ve nailed your online audience and have a strategy that guarantees you engagement on your sites, this may just serve as a refresher for you. But if you’re trying to understand why your social media efforts aren’t producing the clientele you were hoping for, you may want to get comfortable, friend, there is much to be said about creating your Ideal Client Avatar.

Key Points:

• What is an ICA?
• What an ICA Does for Your Brand (the best way to cater to your clients to create an amazing service they will love)
• How to Create an ICA Profile
• How to Use an ICA Profile
• Updating Your ICA
• FREEBIE: ICA Profile Worksheet

What is An ICA?

Your ICA, or Ideal Client Avatar, is an avatar you create as the one person your brand serves with its Vision, Mission, Goals and Values (VMGV; post coming soon!). Your ICA has a name, age, gender identity and lifestyle routine that you create based on your understanding of who needs your products / services the most and how they will use your products/services.

What an ICA Does for Your Brand

Having an ICA profile helps increase results for your brand’s marketing efforts by allowing you to niche down your content for the one person you know is looking to purchase your products/services. Often, only speaking to one person online feels counter-intuitive to online marketing efforts, if you’re trying to reach more people, how does only talking to one person help? Because when you create content that speaks to only one person, you attract ALL the people who are truly interested in what you’re sharing because you literally made it especially for them.

When you’re trying to reach everybody online with your content, your messaging gets confusing because you’re jumping from topic to topic, storyline to storyline, and your audience has a hard time understanding what your brand is about and if they vibe with it. But when you make very clear and concise content focused on serving one pain-point, you’ll begin attracting the people who need the solution you’re offering in your content—you’ll begin attracting your ideal client!

How to Create an ICA Profile

Before creating your ICA Profile, be sure to take a moment to gain as much clarity as possible around your brand’s VMGV. Having a good understanding of what your brand stands for and the mission behind your brand’s work will help you have more clarity in understanding who needs your services/products most.

To begin crafting your ICA Profile, you’ll simply start by describing the type of person they are; what’s their name, how old are they, where do they live, etc.; this helps you connect to the HUMAN you’ll be serving. Once you have the basics down, start considering areas of their life you can help them improve with your brand; this helps you connect with the EXPERIENCE you provide. If you need more help with creating your ICA Profile, download part 1 of 4 of the Soul Signature Studios Mini-Branding Series to receive a free ICA Prolife Worksheet.

How to Use Your ICA Profile

Now that you know exactly who you are talking to with your content, begin creating opportunities for you to show up in their life with genuine service. For example, let’s pretend you are a life coach; say your avatar is 32-year old Emily London who works as a consultant in the city. You know that every morning she stops at a local coffee shop and goes over her emails. So, you create the following content calendar to cater to Ms. Emily:

Monday Morning: You send her a #MondayMotivational email and tell her to check out your stories on Instagram for more motivational tips.

Tuesday Morning: You send her a #TransformationTuesday email and share 3 stories about women’s lives you’ve helped transform with your coaching program.

Wednesday Morning: You send her a Hump Day offer and she’s all, “Free screensaver, whoot whoot!” and posts a screenshot to her stories tagging you because you told her it would be awesome to see her share on the Gram.

Thursday Morning: You relate to her by sharing a challenge you overcame, then ask if she’s ever had an experience like yours and invite her to reply back to share. After you get her email, you thank her for sharing and let her know you’re always available to chat.

Friday Morning: You send her a high-vibe, it’s-Friday email, and share some tips on how to have an amazing weekend full of self-care and reflecting, throwing in a BOGO code to your shop so she can stock up on wellness supplies.

Saturday and Sunday, you don’t send anything; you show up on the weekdays as your ICA’s morning coffee date, always there to give her a bit of encouragement for her day as her friendly online wellness coach.

See why ICA’s are so awesome?!

And the best part: because you’ve been taking out the time to chat with Emily every morning before she goes off to work, now she’s actually more excited than nervous to book that free call with you she’s been seeing on your Instagram because she already knows she can trust you as her friendly online wellness coach.

Updating Your ICA Profile

Just as your brand evolves, so will your ICA Profile. Keep your profile somewhere handy to access and have a “Master Copy,” and a “Draft Copy.” Use the Draft Copy to make notes as you notice your ICA Profile evolving; at least once a year, save a new Master Copy file, updated with the current year and quarter.

EX:

“ICADraft_Q420” – the most recent version of the ICA as a draft for note taking.

“ICAMC_Q419” – the first ICA Master Copy, saved in Q4 of 2019

“ICAMC _Q220” – the second ICA Master Copy, saved in Q2 of 2020

“ICAMC _Q420” – the third ICA Master Copy, saved in Q3 of 2020

Keeping a routinely updated ICA Profile will help you be sure to always give your audience the best online experience possible because you’re already anticipating where you can show up to be of service to them.

So, that’s ICA Profiles in a nutshell: when you speak to one, you attract many. Know who you’re talking to, what you’re talking to them about, and how to best show up in their lives to give them content they crave. If you need more help with creating your ICA Profile, click here to download a free ICA Prolife Worksheet from part 1 of 4 of the Soul Signature Studios Mini-Branding Series.

How My Biggest Pregnancy Regret Led to Becoming a Portrait Photographer

What if I told you that you could change your life with a photograph? A photograph that released healing properties whenever you looked at it?

You’d either look at me as if I’d lost my mind, or you’d ask, “What photograph?”

My goal with my portrait work is to create a ritual practice of relentless love for women, especially mothers, which results in one-of-a-kind artwork of the most beautiful portraits they have ever seen of themselves. 

But it didn’t always start that way. 

Trust me when I say, I know it isn’t always easy to make space and time for yourself, to love on yourself, to appreciate that you exist on this Earth as an irreplaceable, unrepeatable miracle. 

I know how it feels to lose yourself in life, in marriage, in motherhood, in your career, in relationships, all to the point of looking and the mirror and not recognizing the woman looking back at you.

But I also know how it feels to look in the mirror and say, “Why, hello there, Gorgeous. You’re killin’ it today!” Then proceed to wink and blow a kiss. 

I understand feeling exhausted as you struggle to find the balance that is required to feel at peace in your day to day–  whether you’re a mom or not. 

And still, I’m blessed to say, I’ve lived the satisfaction of obtaining the balance necessary to experience peace despite the demands of marriage, two kids, and a creative business. 

Call me crazy or caught up in the whoo-whoo, but I believe there is a way to bottle up the benefits of being madly in love with yourself so that you can use it to boost yourself up whenever you’re feeling down. I mean, can you think of any other way to freeze a single moment in time when you feel amazing, look gorgeous, and radiate that energy with every fiber of your being other than a photograph?

I didn’t quite see it at first, but I’ve always believed there was a magic that existed in photography. Since I was a little girl, I’ve had a deep and burning desire to capture humans in all their raw emotions and interactions. Seeing people be people, whether laughing, crying, hugging, playing, whatever, fascinated me, and I knew that if I could just catch it on camera, I could show the people in the photo how awesome they were–just how beautiful their existence was. 

 

This desire to document humans stuck with me throughout childhood, and even in high school, my friends knew me to have a camera and take pictures of them all the time– even if they didn’t want to be in the photo. Although I was a bit shy and awkward, I’d never run from a photo opt. It was a chance for me to be captured in all of my raw emotions and there was no way I was going to miss a chance to have my existence documented (instead of me being the one doing the documenting). 

 

Whenever a camera was raised to me, I’d straighten myself up, usually standing on my tiptoes as I let all of my energy explode from within me. Having taken so many photos of people, I knew that if I felt like I was joyous and excited, I would look joyous and excited in the photo, and that was exactly what I wanted. 

When I became pregnant with my first, it all changed. 

 

My body was changing as I was growing into womanhood, marriage, and motherhood all at the same time, and I had just become of legal drinking age. What can I say? So many transitions, so little time, am I right? 

The bigger my belly grew, the more my confidence dropped as I realized I was walking into a new way of life I knew absolutely nothing about. 

I was terrified. 

 

A hard-core fitness junkie at the time, I was still going to the gym once a day to do cardio and weight lifting. Then all the comments came: 

“Oh my! Should you even be at the gym?” 

“You’re giving me a heart attack with those weights!”

“Look at your belly– you’re sure to pop at any moment!”

And with all the unsolicited comments came the doubts about the lifestyle I had chosen, which then led to me questioning if I knew anything about any of the decisions I had made thus far in my young adulthood. 

If I thought I was terrified before, then there were no words to describe the new agonizing doubts I had around my body and whether I was making the right decisions around my pregnancy. 

 

So, I took to the thing I always knew could comfort me, no matter how lost I felt, I knew I could count on it to help me get a fresh perspective on life: photography. 

In secret, and only posting on my favorite mommy forum, I would take selfies of my growing belly. Sometimes, my husband and I liked to take “usies” together whenever we were out. It was fun, it was me, it was us, and I loved it.

In an attempt to avoid awkward comments at the gym, I stopped going, but kept “eating for two.” By the 8th month of my pregnancy, I was 10 pounds away from gaining 100 pounds during my pregnancy. 

 

Then came the shame. 

 

At this point, I’m not only ready to pee my pants about becoming a mom and being a “good” wife, but I’m judging myself for all the weight I’ve gained on top of questioning my worthiness of the enlarged territory I had been blessed with…

My confidence was shot when I needed it the most. 

 

I refused to be in any more photos. Not at my baby shower, not at the hospital, not at her newborn photoshoot. Absolutely no proof that I allowed myself to gain so much weight was to exist. Not only did I refuse to be in the photo, but I had also stopped creating photos. 

 

By the time my firstborn was a month old, I was an emotional and hormonal mess, full of regret and sobbing on the couch with my baby girl, sad I didn’t have photos that documented the first days of me bonding with her. Not long after that, I even wished I had photos to help me remember what it was like having my baby girl in my belly. I regretted not having maternity photos and I didn’t care about how “fat” I felt, I just wanted to relive the feeling of carrying my firstborn in my womb. 

 

It was then that I decided to become a photographer so that I could give women the photos I had missed out on, the photos I still crave to this day. A young wife and brand new mama, I embarked on my journey of entrepreneurship, determined to do my best to see to it that no woman lived with the regret of not being in the photo. 

But I had no idea it would turn into what I’ll be sharing with you next. 

If you want to know how you can change your life with a photograph, stay tuned!

More than “Just Photos”

I hear that a lot, “It’s just photos.”

Well, I believe differently, I believe any photo is more than, “Just a photo.” It’s like the cliche says, “A picture is worth a 1000 words,” because every photo tells a story.

My job is so much more than clicking a button to take a picture. As a professional photographer, of course, I’m required to have the skills to create a technically well-composed image. But as YOUR photographer, it is my job to create images that capture more than light.

As your photographer, I am committed to making you look and feel gorgeous as I create the most beautiful images of you, your children, and your family that you’ve ever seen.

“How can you do that?” You may ask. By understanding the love you have for yourself and for your family, then cultivating an environment which allows that love to unfold from in front of my camera as I direct you through a series of poses and setups that capture you in your most beautiful state: as yourself.

As a wife, mom, and entrepreneur, I understand what it feels like to give so much of yourself while you work to be the best you can be to those around you. I also understand how it feels to see yourself in a photo and think, “OMG, that’s how I look?”

We run around all day, work through the night, constantly putting ourselves on hold. As your photographer,  I need you to understand that these are so much more than, “Just photos.” They are a reflection of you in this very moment; a reflection of the life you’ve built, of the challenges you’ve overcome, the hurt you’ve survived and may still be surviving. Portraits are proof of life, proof of your life, and your life is too precious, too beautiful to ever be just another object.

What I do is more than taking pictures because I give women a chance to reconnect with themselves and rediscover how beautiful they can be when they embrace who they are and carry themselves with love and confidence. Sometimes it’s through portraits of themselves, sometimes it’s through portraits of those they love the most, either way, she walks away feeling a little stronger and has that much more love for herself. And that’s why I take my job so seriously, and why you can never convince me that it’s just a picture.

 

Introducing: Notes to Mom

As Mother’s Day approaches, I’m so excited for this new experience I’ll be offering to clients!

At the start of this year, I decided I wanted to shift TMP into the direction of being a Motherhood studio. After working with moms for five years, I realized the work I was doing went way beyond just pictures. The portraits I create for moms are priceless. Why? Because their little one will never be this small again.

As they say, after you’re born, you only get older.

Behind the scenes of craft time at a Notes to Mom session.

If I were to ask you what you wanted to remember most about your child at this age, what would you say?

For me, I want to remember how my five-year-old is obsessed with “writing” in her journal and drawing pictures of us as a family (seriously, melts my heart every time!). Also, I want to remember how she tells me she loves me and I’m the best mommy every 10 minutes, just in case she doesn’t feel the same approaching her teenage years.

I want to remember how my two-year-old takes every opportunity to cuddle with me, how she still fits in my arms despite no longer being an infant, and how she sounds when she says, “Mommy, I want you,” and reaches for me to pick her up.

Honestly, I don’t know how to put all of this in a magical capsule to preserve forever, but I do know I can come pretty close with the magic of photography.

So, I’ve designed a special Mommy and Me experience set to launch in time for Mother’s Day!

An actual Mommy-Daughter custom keepsake from a Notes to Mom session.

Take a moment to relax and enjoy a fun Mother’s Day craft with your kiddos as you create a precious keepsake personalized by your child with reasons why they love you. And if your child isn’t writing yet, we’ll still use their adorable scribbles and doodles =]

During this event, you’ll also have a 10-minute mini-session so we can use the images to design a custom collage with images of you and your kiddo along with the handwritten love notes.

From your Notes to Mom session, you will receive an 8×8″ mounted print of your personalized collage and an online gallery to view and purchase images from your mini-session. No additional purchase is required for your collage.

 

What we do at TMP is more than just photos, we have the honor of taking your most precious memories and immortalizing them so that you can always remember your favorite things about your kids today. I truly hope I get to see you there, because I designed it especially for moms like you, who just want to take in as many moments in motherhood as possible.

Behind the scenes of craft time at a Notes to Mom session.

To book your Notes to Mom session, click here. 

Notes to Mom FAQ

Where is the event located?
Oakland, CA; the exact address will be provided three days before the event.
How long is the mini session?
For the Notes to Mom event, the mini session is 10 minutes long.
How many edits will I receive from the mini session?
Each Notes to Mom booking includes 10 edits.
Are the digital files included with the booking?
No; aside from your custom keepsake, all prints and products are sold separately.

An actual Mommy-Daughter keepsake from a Notes to Mom session.

How can I order additional prints and products?
You will receive a link to a private online gallery where you can purchase additional prints and products from your Notes to Mom booking.
What if I want my children’s grandmother to come?
Please invite her! You will still have the same amount of time for your booking, but having your mom at the event will make that much more precious.

If I can’t make it on the day of the event, will there be another day?
Unfortunately, these are the only dates available. If you would like information on a custom photoshoot experience, please contact TeAirra Mitchell Photography at https://www.teairramitchell.com/inquiry

 

Why I Decided to Stop Batch Editing

For those of you who don’t know, batch editing is a process where you run a preset over your images to save time in editing. Some photographers will batch edit their entire process, others (like me, well, like the old me) will only batch edit certain steps in their workflow (sharpening, skin smoothing, temperature, etc.).

As much as I love the extra time batch editing saves me, and believe me, I truly love saving time, I’m going to have to do away with batch editing altogether. Why? It’s just not worth risking the quality of images for my clients.

Let’s take this gallery for example:

Maternity Portraits by TeAirra Mithcell Ocean Beach, CA

 

 

I batch edited a majority of these, and although they seem pretty good, my client pointed out a couple of issues that I’ve had other clients point out as well.

The first being that this image printed on the dark side (I wish I had a Star Wars pun right now).

Sure, images printed appear to be a bit darker than images looked at on our screens because our screens are backlit, and paper obviously can’t light itself. However, had I taken the time with this image to double check its RGB values, I would’ve predicted that the print would be too dark.

Another issue, this image had strange specks on my client’s face. Not cool. The cause? Over sharpening; since I run actions during my workflow, I gave up the power to ensure the sharpness was just right and instead gave each image the same amount of sharpening.

Of course, I sent out replacement prints, but this gallery also made the shift of hand-editing each image. My client’s trust me to capture their most precious memories so that they can relive them for years to come, no one wants dark and spotty prints in their folio box.

So, bye-bye batch editing, and HELLO to consistently clean prints! Every image presented at your reveal will be hand-selected, hand-edited, and reviewed thoroughly before printing. Because your portraits are THAT serious.

How are Newborn Sessions Scheduled?

 

The trick to any successful shoot is proper planning, but how does one plan a shoot when they don’t know if the subject will even be born yet on the day the shoot is scheduled for?

 

Just like your doctor, we newborn photographers use your EDD as a guide for when we can expect to see you in front of our camera with your new baby. Once we have your EDD, we stay on-call for your newborn session, because it’s simply impossible to know exactly when your baby will be ready for her close-up

Newborn portraits by TeAirra Mitchell

At TMP, we encourage moms to set a date for their newborn session at the same time they set a date for their maternity session. In the weeks leading up to baby’s EDD, we send friendly emails to check-in and see how baby’s baking is coming along so that we can make any necessary adjustments for the date of baby’s newborn session.

 

For example:

A mom’s EDD is September 3rd, and she decides to book a maternity and newborn session. She chooses to do her maternity session mid-July so that she can have maternity photos at her baby shower, and we pencil baby’s newborn session for September 8th.

On August 16th, we send an email to check in with Mom and see if there are any updates on Baby. We don’t get a response from her right away, and understanding that the last trimester can be a doozy, we give a few days before sending another check-in. As long as the doctor hasn’t scheduled an induction or c-section, we’ll stick with the original session date until Baby actually arrives.

On September 3rd, we give mom a call and she says, “Oh my goodness, TeAirra, the baby was born on the 1st and I’ve just had so much going on, I haven’t had a chance to let you know!” To which I reply, “Congratulations, Mama! No worries, I totally get it. You keep enjoying your bundle of joy, and I’ll see you all on the 8th. I can’t wait to meet your little one!”

 

Newborn portraits by TeAirra Mitchell

 

Another example:

Mom wants to book a Baby Plan with a maternity session add-on, and during the booking, she expresses concern about her pregnancy being high-risk. She explains that although her EDD is November 21st, the doctors have been telling her the baby can arrive up to three weeks before her EDD due to the circumstances of the pregnancy.

“No worries,” I say. “Let’s schedule your maternity session for the beginning of October to give you plenty of time to rest just in case he does arrive three weeks early.” We then schedule her maternity session for October 2nd. After talking more about how the doctors have been approaching the pregnancy, we decide to book the newborn session for baby’s actual EDD. This way, if he comes early, he has time to be evaluated as necessary, and if he’s on time, we can move the date ahead a week or so. We also schedule a 6 Month Milestone session and Baby’s First Birthday Portraits.

As the doctors anticipated, Baby arrived three weeks early, but what Mom and I hadn’t anticipated was that baby wasn’t allowed to leave the house for 6 weeks, pushing Baby out of the newborn age for posed newborn portraits. Mom really wants photos of baby as a newborn, before he turns a month old. So, we talk about it some more and decide to do an in-home lifestyle session instead, on our original date of November 21st. This way, mom gets her newborn photos and her baby is not exposed to the outdoors before his doctor gives the ok.

Newborn portraits by TeAirra Mitchell

There have been plenty of times where the baby has gone past their due date or arrived a little early, or is asked not to venture outside due to medical reasons or personal beliefs. All babies come in their own way and in their own time. While we pencil a date to ensure you have space on the books, we also stay on call for you until your baby is able to safely come in for their session. We’re all about the babies, and the mamas, so we’ll pretty do whatever it takes to make sure you get newborn images you love.

 

For more information on TeAirra Mitchell Photography’s portrait services, visit us at www.teairramitchell.com.