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Building a Business Around Motherhood · Luxe & Legacy Podcast

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Welcome to the Lux and Legacy Podcast.
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I'm Marie from Marie Elizabeth Photography.
And I am Amber from Light Live in Photography.
We created this show for photographers who are ready to run a luxury business with clarity, intention, and elevated artistry.
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Each week we uncover the strategies behind high level brands from shooting and styling to client communication, to marketing, to designing heirloom products that increase your value.
If you want to attract aligned clients, produce, work with a recognizable aesthetic and build a business that supports the life you want, this podcast will guide you there.
Let's dive in.
Welcome back, you guys.
episode feels especially personal for Marie and I because Mother's Day is coming up this weekend.
Right now, you guys will hear this after Mother's Day, but right now it's a few days away from Mother's Day 2026 as we are recording, and we wanted to have a real conversation about motherhood, boundaries, hustle culture, and building a business that actually supports your life of consuming it and feeling like you're drowning in it.
I think so many photographers, especially moms, start their businesses in survival mode.
Maybe they have another job or they're, you know, full-time stay-at-home mom and doing it as kind of a side hustle, and you literally feel the word hustle when you're first starting out for sure, 'cause it's nights and weekends.
A lot of the time we're people pleasing and trying to do every single late night email, and single weekend is booked, and that's what you think you're supposed to do, right? Late night editing, answering emails constantly, never feeling like you're fully off 'cause you're like, "I'm growing my business.
It's okay.
We'll get to the other stages later."
Yeah, I think hustle culture in general is something that it's so easy just to fall into and feel that pressure.
I know that I am a dangerous combination of a people pleaser, as well as someone who gets value over being-- or gets value from being productive.
And so it's not a good combination, and so I really need to be intentional about making time for each thing in my life, whether it's business or, you know, personal interests, kids.
I have to, really think about it in advance and make sure that I'm not letting someone's affect in the moment influence decisions I'm making.
So yeah, I'm really excited to chat about this today.
Yeah.
For me, this is an important topic to constantly remind myself of because a personality where I'm like a split personality.
I'm very anxious and wanna be successful, wanna make a lot of money, but then I'm also like really go with the flow and wanna be positive and light all the time and kind of hippy-dippy.
So sometimes I struggle back and forth between it- And I have to constantly remind myself, like, "Okay, life is not about hustle mode.
That's not what you really want out of life."
So how can we set our definition of success to look different as a mother? Because motherhood really changes you, and one thing is for sure, it goes...
And everyone says this, but it's so true.
been on my heart lately just how quickly it's going.
I cannot believe that my oldest son is 11.
I started this business because I borrowed a camera and took a, you know, a picture of my son's beautiful blue eyes when he was one years old and fell in love with just, like, how real, like, captured and just the iPhone.
I, I was like, "That doesn't do it justice."
So how this all started, was my kids.
And so I have to remind myself, "Okay, I'm, I'm doing this for them, so why am I hustling so hard?" We all have to sometimes take a step back sometimes and think about, "How can I change what I'm doing in my business to serve my family and be there more for my family?" 'Cause it goes so quickly, you guys, and we really have to balance things.
'Cause otherwise you'll wake up and suddenly your kid's a teenager.
And so lately I've been asking myself some deeper questions.
How do I want my kids to remember this season of life? memories are we actually creating together? How are they remembering me as a mom? What matters more five years from now, another booking or another camping trip? I think that one of my strengths as a person, my- one of my few natural strengths is being able to see the big picture.
And so always thinking about, like, how do I want my kids to look back on their childhood and see me in this? How do I want them to feel about their childhood? So I feel as though that has been very beneficial with how I built my business.
And I think I mentioned this before, but I have never been one of those overbooked photographers who charged so cheap and had to photograph, like, 20 sessions a month.
I've never been that.
I've always been low volume, even when I was working my teaching job full time.
But I do remember Feeling, and t-truly there is a time and place for, you're working during your free time when you have a full-time job, or you're working photography during your free time.
And there really is no way around that for a period of time until you build your business to either replace part or all of a full-time job.
But I do remember, I had just had my son, and I would have to leave weekend mornings, or I remember doing a session the day after Thanksgiving and just, like, kind of having that Sunday night feeling on Thanksgiving, like, "Oh, I gotta work tomorrow."
And it creates this, bitterness that is not good in terms of how I'm feeling approaching the session, how I'm going to feel during the session and editing the session.
And I knew I did not want to feel that.
It just is debilitating for me.
And fortunately, as I said, I haven't had a business where I've been just so, so busy with bookings.
But I think, like, knowing that that bitterness is a bad sign.
So anytime I feel that, that's a sign to reevaluate the structure or how many sessions I'm taking on.
So now, of course, like, I do not photograph on weekends unless it's, like, a crazy rescheduling or something like that.
I photograph only typically three days a week tops.
But really it tends to be one to two sessions a week on average.
And I really do feel like I have enough, not only physical time for my family, but, like, mental capacity to deal with everything at home.
So yeah, it is so easy to fall into this cycle of, "Oh, wait.
Time is going by way too fast."
So I, yeah, I'm interested to hear from you, Amber, how you block off family time.
Yeah.
For me as well, I really try not to schedule any sessions on the weekends, especially not on Saturdays, because sons usually have soccer games or swim meets and things like that, and I don't like the feeling of day thinking about, "Okay, I have to check in and make sure my client knows X, Y, Z."
Just having that lingering feeling of "I need to be somewhere."
And then I'm always, my brain is always halfway there when I have a session.
Even, I love having them on the weekdays because the kids are at school when I'm thinking about that, and yes, I'm doing other things, editing today, but I have a session this evening, so I'm checking in with my client, making sure she doesn't need anything and we're all set with everything.
So Saturdays are a non-negotiable for me.
And then on Sundays, I do occasionally do a Sunday, but I do let people know there's a $200 surcharge for the weekends.
I often will do Fridays 'cause that's an easier day for people to take off early.
but I try, in general, to not do weekends, This has something that I started doing, I don't know, two or three years ago, and it's just life-changing because that's what your kids remember, really, is the weekends with you.
And I think that so many photographers think they have to do every weekend all the time, and that can really make you feel burnt out.
And honestly, clients who truly value your work, they understand that.
And most businesses function Monday to Friday, and they're closed on the weekends, so they don't, they don't ever hold it against you.
Whatever hours you decide are your hours, they do respect that, especially with luxury clients.
They respect you more when you have a business structure, we've talked about that on, on past, podcasts about boundaries, but it is so important.
They're looking for an intentional experience with someone who values their own time and energy too I totally can relate to how clients respect a business more when there's more boundaries in place from a client perspective, because I find myself, I will naturally try to get a-- get things to work out for my schedule, okay? That's what I'm trying to say.
If I'm trying to set an appointment up, I will first try to make it work for my schedule.
And then if I get pushback or I'm told, "Oh, it only works within this timeframe," I'm like, "Okay, let me adapt and adjust."
So it's natural for people to try to make things as convenient as possible for themselves.
There's a lot going on.
And so clients will try to push your boundaries, and it's from my perspective, it's not a disrespectful act.
It's more just trying to make things convenient for family life.
But when we are able to say, "You know what? My office hours are actually until 2:00 PM, and if your email comes in after that, I'll get back to you within the next business day," it does create more credibility, and people adjust and adapt.
Yeah, you just need to teach people how you run as a business, and you do not need to be available 24/7 to be successful, right? we do sometimes have to get flexible.
I have a client who she was supposed to have her session in the fall.
Her family got the flu, so of course we rescheduled.
Then the rescheduled day it rained, so we were like, "Forget it.
Let's just push it to spring," because it starts to get really ugly here in, in late November and in December.
So we pushed it, the day all the way to May 5th, this week, then it was so cloudy and overcast and rainy on Tuesday again.
It's been crazy here this year.
It's like Seattle.
Because she's been pushed around so much, I'm offering her a Sunday date because no surcharge, because I do feel bad for something like that.
So sometimes we have to be flexible, for the most part, if you set your boundaries and are intentional about it, it really works out for the best.
lately I've been looking at my priorities and intentionally planning more time with my family this summer, because a lot of the time we can be like, "Oh, summer is perfect.
Kids are out of school.
Families have time to do a photo shoot."
And then it's easy to get booked out before you've actually blocked off your time.
That's happened to me before, and it's started...
It actually happened to me already.
Someone booked from my calendar a date where I was I was gonna go camping.
Now I'm gonna have to change the dates.
But yeah, it's easy for things to get filled up if you don't block it off in your Mm-hmm.
Actually going into your 17hats or your HoneyBook and blocking off weeks for your family is so important, and we really need to do that more often as photographers.
For me, I love to go to Mexico or Hawaii, but I also really love to take short little camping trips during the summer because you're out of service, that's truly the only time that I take to...
It's, it's hard for us these days.
I think it's hard for all of us, whatever generation you are.
It's hard for us to totally unplug from Instagram and email and, clients trying to reach you, and you feel obligated to answer them.
But if I'm out of service, it's, "Sorry, I'm out of service."
You know, you can have an automated email go out from your email saying you are you're out of service.
the only time where I feel like I truly connect with my kids.
They don't have the video games with them.
They don't have the TV to just turn on.
And it's, it's just something that, for me, as a mom, has been really important to plan into our summers.
How That sound-- I was just gonna say that sounds really fun.
So we have not gone camping yet as a family, but I am open to entertaining the idea of, a soft camping experience, maybe starting in our backyard or something.
So my youngest is four, and I think my kids would love it overall.
So maybe this is the summer that we try something.
Maybe a glamping.
I could do glamping for sure.
I know that would be up my alley.
But, we don't do anything hardcore.
We...
It's what you call car camping, where we bring an air mattress, we set up the tent right next to the truck, and there's no hiking in yet with...
Yeah, it's pretty easy.
Okay, that's comforting.
Yeah.
I can totally see, that being such a good experience for my son because he very much...
he's ADHD, and he likes having instant gratification of entertainment, and so getting him to figure out how to spend him, his time on his own is very challenging, and it's a constant battle at home.
But I can see how camping would be very fulfilling for him and for the family and, connecting.
So I will look into that this summer.
But what I was gonna say is, so my husband Zach is a teacher, and so he's home all summer, and we always make a summer list, a summer, like, checklist of things that we want to do.
Usually it involves places in the general area we wanna go and explore.
It could be a day trip spot, usually within a couple hours or so.
But because of that, there'll be probably one to two days every week where I will be, out of the office for all of the day.
And so it is really important, this reminded me to go into my HoneyBook and make sure I set my, like, meeting availabilities to, for only specific days of the week in summer so that way I'm not having people, schedule appointments, when we're planning to go somewhere.
And I've already done that for our vacation vacations, but we just do a lot of things together as a family during the week.
And so, as you said, it's really important to be proactive and get on that with your calendar before someone schedules something, so that way you don't have to, like, go in and reschedule it.
So yeah, I'm looking forward to just soaking in this time with the kids and Zach this summer and exploring and, and having fun.
So weekends are an important topic for mama photographers, but what about- What Marie and I's week looks like.
So for us, we schedule and of block out our time for certain things.
So I take client calls on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and those are also days that I edit a lot, and then I often do shoots Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
So those are kind of how I block things off.
I rarely do mini sessions.
If I do it, it's for something that's really important to me, like motherhood.
So I just had my Mother's Day event, that was on a weekend, but I only do that twice a year.
I have Mother's Day events, and then I have a holiday event.
But other than that, I try to keep my weekdays very chill as much as possible.
So I only take one or two sessions a week max.
I just try to be more intentional about blocking out my schedule, and then that way I have days to do other things with my kiddos or, anything else that I'm working on.
My education business is also part of my schedule, and I know Marie's as well.
Like, Thursdays are our...
it's our time that's blocked off for this podcast recording.
So I highly recommend blocking your schedule, whether that's editing, answering emails, doing consult calls, that type of thing, because it really helps your mind stay clear.
So if I never con- schedule consult calls on Mondays, Thursdays, or Fridays, then that's not a part of my brain process on those days.
I'm not thinking about, "Oh, I need to check my calendar, make sure I'm not gonna miss a call," those days.
You know what I'm saying? So like that can really help you stay connected and grounded with your family and whatever activities you have scheduled with them Yeah.
Before summer, so like during s- the school year, I have three, I guess, work days.
They are Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays.
The-- That is when my youngest is in a part-time preschool.
But even on those days, I am not working, like, until pickup, school pickup, I like to basically wind down, like shortly after lunch because I find I have most of my energy in the morning, and then I need time for my brain to shut off.
I feel so tired, and I may not even be, like, physically tired per se, but I just need a reset.
And so sometimes I will just, like, sit and read, close my eyes, like do nothing, and it just resets my mind, which also really prepares me for having my kids home later in the afternoon.
Because I find once my kids get home, they melt down immediately.
Like, I always tell my husband, like, "Oh, by the time he gets home we've already been to hell and back," you know? Because it's always really rough.
And so I want to be fully present for them and to handle all of their big emotions and just that, you know, coming apart that happens after school.
So I like having that little reset time in my afternoons before I pick them up.
And then the other two days of the week my youngest is home with me, and so I will occasionally have my laptop and edit or do an email here and there, but it's not a dedicated work day.
So I'm not doing anything major.
We will go on scooter rides, go to the playground.
We always will go to this coffee shop on Friday mornings and split an acai bowl together while I sip an iced coffee.
So we have this wonderful little routine that I'm going to really miss next year when she's in full-time school.
But during the days that she's home, I will sometimes have a meeting around lunchtime because during lunchtime is when she'll get a little break.
She might watch a movie or a show, and that's when I might do a meeting if it's like a busy season and I, you know, have a lot of meetings during my scheduled work days.
But other than that, they're really low-key.
And so going into summer, it's going to be probably just like reverse in the sense like I might have one or two work days, whereas the other days are going to be very flexible with all of our family activities.
That's super.
I like getting insight into other people's worlds a little too.
bit too.
So another thing that's really important as a mama entrepreneur is to be careful about our money mindset.
So Marie and I were actually chatting a little bit before we hopped on, and want you guys to know that this is something everyone works on all the time.
You can't talk about money mindset too much.
It's...
The world is, is changing, and things are scary out there, you guys.
So I have to constantly remind myself when I get in a funk, like, "Oh my God, everything's so expensive right now."
In California, things can be crazy expensive, easy to kind of go into that fear mindset, that scarcity mindset.
But as a, a mom and someone who's running my own business, it's important that I always remind myself and, and stop and pause and take some time to remind myself that money is really, it's energy.
Hmm.
direction your energy is flowing is the direction it's gonna go.
So if you are flowing in abundance and realizing that, oh my gosh, money is out there, there's millions and millions of dollars to be had by anyone, anyone can actually tap into that money as a resource.
It's a matter of getting ideas flowing through you and believing that you are worthy, you are capable, you are able to come up with ideas to attract that to yourself.
I just wanna remind you guys before Mother's Day that if you're feeling in a funk and like, "Oh gosh, I have to do everything anybody asks me to because I'm afraid the money will just Hmm.
step back and remind you guys money is a resource.
It flows.
It can be created at any time.
There are always opportunities, ideas, launches, pivots, aligned bookings, and ways that you can increase your income I love all of that.
You know I love the hearing the woo woo about money mindset.
Although I don't actively, like, do any woo woo money mindset things, I truly do believe in it, and I can see how scientifically it works and lines up.
Because I know that when I have had this abundance energy to me, that's when I am getting lots of inquiries, turning away clients, and it's not like I'm thinking I need clients and I need to turn away clients, but our mindsets affect- Like everything we do.
It'll affect what we tell potential clients, the wording we use, our affect, our expressions, and these signals can show a potential client, "Oh, I, I wanna book with this person," or, "You know what? Maybe it's not a right fit."
And so I can totally see how that positive energy flowing out there will reciprocate and give us clients.
Yeah.
And once you start believing that there's always more money available.
It's not just belonging to the rich and elite, which sometimes this society, it, it can start to feel that way, right? But Mm-hmm.
it's actually available to any- everyone, anyone at any time.
So instead of how can I work more, start asking how can I work smarter? How can I create more freedom? How can I increase income without sacrificing my entire life? So that can look like raising your prices instead of stacking your calendar with mini sessions.
That can look like adding in albums and artwork so that you double or triple your income per client instead of just always needing to book more clients.
Using automations and workflows so that you're not constantly thinking and stressing over, "Oh, did I send this client that information? Did I...
Who's who?" And getting confused with your clients on what you need to send each person still.
You just have it automatically sent.
Okay, this week it's sending them the gu- the style guide.
This next week it's it's a what to prepare for before your session.
And then it's, okay, let's- Send an email to remind them that they're welcome to hop on a consult call with you if they need anything else.
And that way they're reaching out to you only when they need something, and not to ask all these different questions because you didn't provide, pro- provide the answer.
So I'm a huge supporter of automated workflows in my life.
It could also look like creating content strategically so that one blog turns into Instagram posts, Pinterest pins, emails, and stories, and it's really just one piece of content that you're just recreating into multiple ways.
It could mean you hire a VA.
I am...
I went a few months here without a VA after having one for five years, and it's been really tough.
I feel like it got me more in a funk than I expected.
It's so nice to be like, "Okay, I'm...
create this but I really don't want to sit down and do a blog."
Like, I hate blogging.
have a VA now just and she's gonna do those type of things for me, like turning one piece of content into multiple directions for marketing.
It could mean that even something as simple as taking a good course in consistency and lighting, because that's gonna save you so much time editing, you guys.
If you get your lighting and your exposure and your white balance right in camera, that can save you so much time.
It could mean, it could mean getting Imogen or some other editing software that can speed up your editing.
What are some ideas w- that you have for saving time, Marie? Yeah.
So the biggest one obviously is that I do full service for my clients.
So by offering the professional hair and makeup and the fine art printing, I only photograph between four and six sessions a month on average.
And I, I say this all the time, but I do truly feel like I have a, like, almost perfect work-life balance.
I know I could not be a stay-at-home mom, and I respect moms who do that, and, you know, it's beautiful and amazing.
But I know my personality type, like, I love being able to have some project to work on and to create, and a business g- brings me great joy.
So, but I feel like the amount of time I spend in my business is exactly what I want, and the amount of time I spend with my family is exactly what I want.
And I joke with my husband all the time about how, you know, I was a teacher and, and he is a teacher, about how, like, my day was easy compared to yours.
So it, like, the amount of weight and stress that, like, teachers carry, or anyone who works in the schools, you go into the schools, Amber, it is so, so heavy and there's a burden.
And I don't know, my job is so easy than being now.
teacher, let's be I think being around people who are carrying a lot of just struggle is hard, and you're gonna be exposed to that, you know, in schools.
And so anyway, I feel like everything is very balanced, and it's because I offer the full service experience.
So I was talking with Amber about this before we started recording, but this year has been much slower than previous years.
I have been booking less clients than I have last year.
But I am making right now the same amount, if not more, than I made at this point last year because my clients this year have just bought more artwork.
And so by offering that full service experience, I- it is literally the definition of working smarter, not harder.
So I have this what's the word? I have this, ugh, this like, buffer in my, in my mental space and in my day, so I'm not working, working, working, working, working, working, and then, like, running to get my kids.
I have time to reset and prepare for the next part of the day.
And I also have two client experience or artwork courses.
So first is my mini course, Portraits That Sell.
And that is basically everything I do to get clients to fall in love and purchase artwork.
So you make these big four-figure sales, so you don't have to work a lot of sessions.
And I also have the Luxury Client Experience, which goes through my complete client experience step by step, so you can offer this full-service experience for your clients, so you can only work a handful of sessions a month too.
I love that.
At the end of the day, your children will never remember how quickly you guys answer your emails or how many sessions you squeezed in.
All they care is about how m- much time you spent present with them.
The goal is not just building a profitable business, it's about building a life you're actually there for.
So thank you guys so much for listening today, and to all the mom photographers listening, Happy Mother's Day.
We hope you spend this weekend slowing down and soaking in the beautiful life you're building.
Happy Mother's Day, and we'll see you next time.
Thank you so much for spending time with us today on the Luxe and Legacy Podcast.
We love being part of your journey as you build a luxury photography business that feels aligned and elevated.
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Bye.