If I met myself today, the one from eighteen years ago, what would I say to myself then?

Nowicka, listen:

Do it your way – listen to your intuition.

You may be tempted to imitate others. I know, it’s hard to trust yourself when you’re at the beginning of the journey and many things you just don’t know. It’s good to learn from the experiences of others: to try, to test, to search, and eventually to find your own way.
But I stress: don’t imitate. Explore.

Forcing yourself to do something without conviction, without putting your heart into it, is rather pointless. Be on your own side. It’s important to know what you want, but also what you don’t want.

Draw knowledge from others, more experienced (from books, lectures, and podcasts), but filter this knowledge through yourself, your abilities, preferences, and likes.

Surround yourself with loved ones who support you.

Friends, family, professional acquaintances, other entrepreneurs. Who can you count on? The support of the people around you is very important, especially if you are a solo entrepreneur or a freelancer. When everything is on your shoulders, it’s easy to get crushed.
Have those close by who will come with a kind word, help, advise. They will listen, they are interested. They keep their fingers crossed, cheer you on, give likes like crazy, and truly see you.

Let go of relationships that drag you down, the people you can’t count on, those who are takers, never givers, from whom you’ve never heard words of appreciation. Let them be further away, never close.

Take care of your contacts.

Develop your network of contacts. Stay connected. It’s the kind of profession where you meet loads of people, so take advantage of that. And don’t be afraid to draw on them – communicate who and what you’re looking for.

Develop yourself not only in the profession you’re in, but also in the competencies related to managing what you do.

Talent is not enough. Running a business is not just about photography. It’s also about a whole lot of other skills. And since the realities of life are constantly changing, set yourself up for continuous learning. The sooner you get to grips with marketing, sales, image building, and personal branding, the better. Master the basics, get oriented so you know how to do things or what to delegate, and what to require.

Think about diversification and implement it.

Make money from photography, in the broadest sense. Taking photos is one thing, but also figure out how your knowledge and experience can translate into additional sources of income in the future. Over time, expand.

Have a financial cushion.

Then you’ll sleep more peacefully, and your stomach will hurt less.

Take care of rest and regeneration.

Remember that you have limited energy. You need rest, sleep, something completely different, a change of environment, and a hobby. Don’t neglect your days off and holidays. Sure, sometimes you need to do more and even push through, but let that be the exception, not the rule.
Mental well-being, the right mindset, and a fit body: look after yourself.

Reach out for help.

When you don’t know something, find someone who does. Someone who can point you in the right direction, give you advice, and help you. Not everything can be done alone. You don’t have to know everything.
There will be worse days, accumulating problems, and feelings of tiredness and burnout. It’s good to ask for support in solving your problems.

Intention and mission.

Do you know why you are doing this? Why for yourself and why for others? Find the answers.
This is important.

People need to experience, to make mistakes, to see what works and what doesn’t, and still, in the process, learn about themselves, solidify, or change their beliefs. I don’t know if I would have listened to this elder Nowicka. I hope so, at least to some extent.

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You can find the texts in this series under the ‘I have a company‘ category. Or click the tag: 18.

It is this December (2024) that the company I founded in 2006 celebrates its 18th birthday. And actually I’m celebrating this birthday, because in the case of a one-person business, combined with a personal brand and being an author, the company is me.
Over these eighteen years, I have accumulated a whole bagful of experience. My business has gone through several transformations, I’ve caught up with crises and doubts, and I’ve also enjoyed a huge number of successes.
In all this time, photography has been my only source of income.
I don’t know if I can count how many people I have photographed, how many events and places.

Of course, a one-person business isn’t just – in my case – about photographing and post-processing. It’s also a huge amount of work: communicating and meeting clients, running the website, social media and the shop, writing the blog, running workshops, dealing with documentation (invoices, contracts, etc.), promo activities, strategy and trying to get away from the day-to-day to draw visions and plans. It’s also personal development, education, new competences.
And a whole bunch of crap, such as servicing my car (which is my work tool, after all), taking care of the studio or running to the parcel machine with a delivery. So it’s not just a crap.

To celebrate my anniversary, I have decided to write a series of texts about how I run my business, what difficulties I have encountered and what goes lightly. Where I get my inspiration from and where I look for answers. What values do I hold dear. What my typical working day looks like – do I even have such a thing as a typical working day. And I’ll probably catch a few more ideas in between. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, I’ve experienced some total fuck-ups 😉 Fortunately, moments of elation and happiness were more frequent.