051: Amy Williams – Why Being Honest With Yourself Is Hard & How To Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone

January 31, 2022

“Be honest with yourself, focus on yourself. “

AMY WILLIAMS

Hey everyone! It’s Sally here, from Studio Ninja. Today’s episode is all about Amy Williams.

Amy is a Photographer based in Derbyshire but travels all over the UK as a professional third wheel documenting weddings! She fell into photography in 2021 after being made redundant from her marketing role. Now, Amy is super passionate about living creatively and chasing things that excite, even if you think you’re ’not qualified’.

Check out some of the biggest points from Amy’s interview below:

  • Amy’s journey in the Photography Industry
  • Why Amy chose Weddings

  • Why you should listen to your gut and take a leap

  • Top Tips for a successful first year in business
  • Being honest with yourself is the best thing you can do

  • What Amy recommends you do as business owners

  • What she would do differently if she could start her career all over again
  • The importance of believing in yourself

  • What a huge impact believing in yourself can have on your business

  • The one thing that made a difference to Amy’s business!

What are your favourite things about being your own boss?

It’s planning my own day, my own week, my own life. That’s definitely the best part for me. My favourite year aside from now was final year of uni, and I always say that, because I was just doing kind of what I’m doing now. I was being creative and I was doing my projects and things, but I was treating it like a job. So I still had a routine, but I loved that on a Friday I could maybe go to the gym a little bit later and I could do other life things, like I could do my washing and things like that. It’s so silly, isn’t it? It’s so funny, but you know, I was allowed to do that and that worked really well for my life and my lifestyle. Final year, I was just enjoying myself so much.

There was days when like my auntie came to visit and it was a Thursday maybe, and I was like, “Yeah, do you know what? I can go and see Auntie Margaret. That’s absolutely fine, because I know that I can pick up.” I could do maybe a bit of extra work on Wednesday and I can do extra work on Friday and I can plan my life like that. But if I was in an office job, I wouldn’t be able to. I’d have to book annual leave and things. It’s just having that freedom for me.

What is your advice to someone listening that’s thinking, “I want to take the leap of faith, but I don’t know”?

I think it’s just about, I mean, for me it was just about being really honest with myself. I mean, I was forced into a change because I was furloughed and I was forced into doing nothing and thinking, what can I do? But I think before that, I had those kind of thoughts as well that I don’t really know if this is what I want to do, but I was working for quite a big company and people were saying, I was getting all these outside affirmations, like, “Oh, you are smashing it. You’re doing so well.” I did fashion promotion at uni, and then I was working for this big fashion brand, and I think everyone, in London and I had this marketing job, whatever, but in reality it was not that fun.

I was getting up at 5:30 to go to the gym, because then I had to commute and I had to be in the office at nine o’clock and stuff, and it just not the life. But yeah, it was all these outside affirmations from other people saying, “You’re doing so well, you must be loving life,” and things like that. And I was like, “Yeah. I suppose.”

Yeah, and I felt like as well that I should be. I felt bad for not enjoying myself and not thinking this is really good and I’ve done amazing. I felt guilty. So that’s why I was then also outwardly saying, “Yeah, no, I’m loving it. Yeah, I’m having a really good time.” So it’s just, for me, just about being really, really honest with yourself. And again, like we were just saying, I thought I needed qualifications and I thought you needed this and that and the other. But actually, especially for things that are creative, you can just go and do it. You don’t need permission. You don’t need qualifications. If you want to be a doctor or a surgeon, you need a qualification, but if you just want to take pictures, you can just do that.

If you could give one piece of advice to our listeners, something that’s maybe made a big difference in your business life in the past year, or your personal life in general, what would that one piece of advice be?

I mean, it’s something I suppose I’ve talked about already, but just being honest with yourself, focusing on yourself. Focusing on you, focusing on what excites you and just running with that, and running with that until you can’t anymore or until something happens.

Thank you!

Thanks again to you all for joining us and a huge thanks to Amy for joining us on the show!

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!

That’s it for me this week, I hope you all enjoyed this episode.

See you soon,

Sally

About Amy Williams

Amy is a Photographer based in Derbyshire but travels all over the UK as a professional third wheel documenting weddings! She fell into photography in 2021 after being made redundant from her marketing role. Now, Amy is super passionate about living creatively and chasing things that excite, even if you think you’re ’not qualified’.