Eliesa Johnson

Managing the Time

 

Last fall, I wrote a blog post about Handling It All and some tips that help me keep everything together. After that post, many of you have asked more in depth about how I structure my work days. I kind of struggled on how to approach this, because as many of you freelancers know, absolutely every day is different. Self-discipline and flexibility are the two biggest pillars in how I manage my time, while also learning to protect that precious time. And lets be real - managing our time better is something we can all be better at.

I try to balance as much personal time as I can with the full work days. I am slowly becoming a morning person and I try to clock out around 6 pm and leave work alone for the night (when I work, I am focused and when I'm done for the day it's all about my personal life). If I have weekends off - well those are entirely sacred. I also give myself a break. I am lucky enough to do what I love every single day, but that also means I could always be working. Sometimes I feel like I should be working all the time, which is something I am learning to let go of more and more. 

The most valuable thing we have is time. So no matter how you work your schedule, make sure the following things fit in:

Time with those you love.

Time spent doing what you love.

Time for yourself.

And time to enjoy it all. Otherwise, what is this hustle for? 

Below is an example of what a busy day looks like for me. On this particular day, we didn't have a photo shoot, but it was filled with many of the other things that go into our business. Hopefully it is a helpful example of how we structure our time. 

No matter how crazy or quiet your schedule may seem, keep focus and remind yourself why you do what you do. Try not to be consumed by the busy work - It is the quality, not the quantity of time that matters. 


9:00 a.m. - The meetings begin for the day. Meet Lucy. She's going to be one of our new assistants for 2017! Together with our Studio Manager, we met to go over the details and what to expect in joining our crew. 

11:00 a.m. - Melissa is an amazing part of our team and helps manage all of our Rivets and Roses photographers + clients, along with the studio. We just received some new look books for the Photogen Inc. weddings, so she's working on marketing those!

2:00 p.m. - Meeting at Spoon & Stable with Chef Gavin Kaysen for his upcoming cook book. I'm super excited to be a part of this project and it's great to be involved with such a collaborative team. The book is due out in 2018, and our meetings are filled with creative visions and planning out our shoots. 

4:00 p.m. - Had to swing by Young Joni, because I am a total professional and left my camera battery charging - derp. 

6:30 p.m. - One last meeting for the day, which is a consultation with a couple who is getting married in 2017! Lots of people just got engaged over the holidays, so these later meetings will be more common. 

5:30 a.m. - My days start early. This is a new thing for me - maybe a few months old. Nick and I realized that really the only time for us to workout is right away in the morning. So far, so great. We're not perfect at it, but it definitely feels amazing to get up and move early in the day. I do find I am more focused and productive with work right away in the morning, too!

10:00 a.m. - Precious studio time. It's amazing what we can get done in just a few hours. I usually sit down to go over payroll, e-mails, concepting, and backingup files from the previous day's shoots. 

1:45 p.m. - We love visitors to the studio, especially dogs! Today's visits are from Tulsi and Frankie. Jess, one of our Rivets photographers, dropped by to go over some edits and back up files! 

3:15 p.m. - Off to HAUS Salon to meet the crew for a shoot this weekend. We needed to scout the space, since we're bringing in a full studio set up. This should be an especially fun one! 

4:15 p.m. - Back to the studio to put in some editing hours. I'm super excited about our recent shoot with Young Joni and I love seeing the entire edit come to life. 

7:45 p.m. - Clocking out for the day! Today was jam-packed, but with all really good things. I also spent time on each of our brands, which is always a victory! Now it's time to go home and spend time with my favorite people. I'll also be asleep by 10 pm, guaranteed. 

Growth + New Brand Identity!

 

Identity work by dschwen

I am super excited to share the new identities of all of our companies! This is our eleventh year of business and as our work and businesses grow and become more refined, so do our brands. Last year, we took on the big project of updating all of our websites and this year brought along the next phase of that project, which was to unify all of the brands. We worked with the brilliant mind of David Schwen of Dschwen to bring the new identity all together and I am SO happy with how it turned out! Each company still has it's own individual presence, while still feeling cohesive with all we do here in the studio.  Lets break it down. 

 

The logos for ELIESA JOHNSON and ELIESA CONSULTS are very much the same. A lot of my consulting work comes from freelancers who are mostly connecting with these brands. The old logo use to feature my full signature, but we simplified it to how I actually sign my prints, which is with an 'e'. The new font is still simple, clean, professional and compliments the vibe of our imagery. We have a lot of ideas on how we are going to incorporate these logos in various design elements, printed materials and portfolios, so stay tuned! 

eliesaconsults.com

New social icon for eliesajohnson.com

 

The next brand I would love to share is Photogen Inc. This company is focused on luxury wedding photography and our clients have taken us around the world. Creating a logo that feels high end and still maintains a little bit of an edge was important to me. Our wedding clients are people who take risks, travel often and live a big life. I think this new logo is the perfect fit!

New social icon for Photogen Inc. 

New social icon for Photogen Inc. 

 

Last, but not least, is our Rivets and Roses brand. Rivets is the sister company to Photogen Inc. and is a wedding photography studio that features the work of 6 talented artists. The new branding for this company is probably the biggest change of all the brands! We entirely changed the look with a bolder, clean and more approachable font. It's friendlier and great for everything this brand stands for. It's also super strong and inviting. I am so very excited about this update!

New social icon for Rivets and Roses

I want to give a HUGE thank you to David and Jess and Dschwen for all of their hard work on this! We are in love with our new look and hope you are, too!

LOVEe

Welcome to ELIESA Consults!

 

Woo hoo!

I am so excited to finally launch ELIESA Consults! Business consulting for artists has been a part of my business for the past 7 years, but I never had a space for this to live until now. One of my business goals for 2015 was to unify all of our brands and create a home for our consulting clients + workshops. This new site offers information about both hourly and full day consultations, as well as speaking engagements

When I started mentoring  photographers in 2009 it seemed like a great idea for me to have this branded as a fluffy-feel-good company. Running your own business isn't all pretty, but it's also not all fear based. I grew out of this old branding quite quickly and realized that I had a lot more to offer and wanted to bring a real-life-perspective to those I mentored. I wanted to take it to the next level and create a serious consulting company. Over time, I started giving more speeches + talks to colleges and private organizations, contributing to magazine articles and having more hourly consultations - both in our studio and over skype. The last couple of years has brought along another shift. Our consulting clients have expanded from photographers to freelancers and small business owners alike in the creative world.  

Consulting has become one of my greatest passions. I feel that it is an honor to guide, mentor and teach our clients and these people equally empower and inspire me. If you are interested in a consultation, send me a note and we can get you all set up

Along with this new site, I will be starting to offer more workshops + learning opportunities. As we gather our ideas for these moving forward, I would love to hear what you are interested in learning about

Back in 2008, I was at a Brother Ali concert and he happened to say this quote that I have always drawn inspiration from. It was in that moment that I knew I had to teach others around me:

This Industry should not be a competition, but rather a collaboration. 

So here's to creating a positive community, filled with empowering one another to create successful businesses!