Creativity isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it’s the quiet seasons that bring us home to ourselves again.
In this episode, I’m joined by Kelsey Freeman of Kelsey Freeman Photography, and we’re diving into what it really looks like to show up online and take care of your creative energy at the same time. We talk about TikTok wins and the reality behind them, how to develop the confidence to post imperfectly, and the burnout that can sneak up when your creativity becomes “content”.
Kelsey generously shares how stepping back helped her step forward again with more clarity, healthier boundaries, and content rooted in connection rather than performance.
If you’ve ever felt torn between needing to “be visible” and needing to breathe, this episode is the permission slip you’ve been waiting for.
What’s in this episode:
- [00:00] Kelsey shared how she grew through viral content
- [02:20] The real-life impact of a post that took off
- [04:50] Why going “viral” isn’t always victory
- [07:15] Making content on social media that feels like you
- [09:30] Building confidence on camera even if you feel cringey
- [14:50] When creativity collapses into burnout
- [18:40] Boundaries, rest, and coming back to joy
- [24:10] A pep talk for artists afraid to return after a break
If you’ve ever felt torn between visibility and burnout, Kelsey will show you a healthier, happier way to show up and be seen.
SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Meet Kelsey Freeman
Hi!! I’m a 33-year-old mom of two (make that 3 if you count my hubby) 😛 and I live between Atlanta and Birmingham. Born and raised Georgia peach here, I was made a bit too sweet and I am far too kind…call me a habitual people pleaser which is always great for my clients haha. I admit I do have a tendency to talk a lot, and a million miles a minute. I started photography after I had my son, desperately looking for a way to quit the 8-5 grind and spend time with my child all while making money. I found photography and it has been the greatest gift I could have ever imagined. Now I spend my time trying to teach others how to do the same! Life is far too short to spend it doing something you don’t LOVE!
Connect with Kelsey
Did this episode with Kelsey encourage you to rest and reclaim yourself after burnout? Check out this episode Cultivating An Attitude Of Adaptability with Heidi Hope
Transcript
Kelsey: [00:00:00] To me, there’s no way to. Avoid it. And I think that’s a lot of artists though, we give our all so much when we’re feeling creative and passionate and then you just need a break. Don’t feel guilty about that. Just prepare for it. And I’m telling you what my life was in a downward spiral a few years ago because I was not as organized as I needed to be.
And I looked at stuff like this and I said, no, we’re just fixing it. And it’s really helped so much. So just make as much as you can when you have your pockets of time. Just try to be smart with your time, that’s really what I’ve done. And don’t try to think you’re not gonna burn out if you feel it.
Slow it down a little bit. Otherwise, your burnout’s gonna be weeks long, [00:01:00] Hello, my beautiful friends. Welcome back to the show. Today I am hanging out with Kelsey Freeman of Kelsey Freeman Photography. So welcome.
Hi. Thank you. Thank you.
Lisa: So share a little bit about who you are and what drew you into photography.
Kelsey: So basically I got into photography because I was a really young mom and I just wanted something where I could stay at home with my kids more.
So my sister actually went to college for photography, so she taught me a few little, you know, the exposure triangle, if you will. And then I just started from there and fell in love with it, and it’s just been my thing ever since. But yeah, I feel like I have the same story a lot of. Other moms have. How old are your kids now?
They are now. My youngest is seven and the one that got me into it, he is 14.
Lisa: [00:02:00] Oh. Isn’t it wild having a teenager?
Kelsey: I know. It’s insane. I know, but it’s so fun. I love it. Yep.
Lisa: I love it. Love it, love it. I know my son’s just turned 16 and, hold on, mama. Hold on.
Kelsey: Yeah, and he’s a good kid. He’s such a good kid. So hopefully, you know, we’re in marching band, so he’s around a bunch of awesome people, but that’s great.
Yeah, it’s definitely a fun new period of life. Yeah.
Lisa: Yeah. I love it. Love it, love it, love it. So tell me about the early days of building your business. What did that look like for you?
Kelsey: Long story short, I, like I said, I had my child very young, fresh outta high school, and I was working in like accounting and collections and I spent a lot of my time.
Once I knew I wanted to get into photography, I spent a lot of my time at work, honestly, writing up Craigslist ads, you know, like on my computer and just after work I would go and do photo shoots in the evening. I was just strictly outdoor sunset. And then I would do weekend photo shoots and edit late at night.[00:03:00]
And it was a hustle at first for a really long time. And yeah, I honestly just kind of did that for long enough until I was able to quit my job and then just focus straight on. Photography and eventually after a while, started building, getting a little more courageous and doing weddings and stuff.
And I never had to get another job after that. This was just always a income for me. I loved that. I loved that.
Lisa: So you had a channel that reached over a million followers and it went poof. That would break most people honestly. Can you share how and what happened and how you found the courage to start rebuilding in 2025?
’cause I’m following you and you are. Going viral again, girl.
Kelsey: Thanks. Okay, so I will tell you this. I. Started just posting. I never thought my count would grow like it did, but I was trying to be authentic and just be myself. And what I kept hearing over and over is just like my personality kept bringing people back.
So it did grow to, over a million [00:04:00] followers. And to me it was never about like the follower count, but it did bring in a lot of a lot of business. I was getting a lot of business. It was worth it to keep posting all the time. And anyway, I started to get into doing lives because I heard that that really helps.
And I would do those while I had photo shoots. And one day I had a newborn session and it was just one of those sessions where a series of unfortunate events, if it could go wrong, it did. And mom asked me if we could do like naked baby bum up kind of stuff. I honestly never really shared much Nike stuff.
I did a lot of clothes and things because I do a lot of my stuff on social media and I, I know how times are, so I’m like, there’s so many cute outfits. Anyway, so I just kind of focus on outfits on the table. But I wanna make my clients happy, so she asked if we could do bum. On the table and it was like, absolutely.
But I knew that I was doing the live so I couldn’t, show that. So I had angled my camera on my [00:05:00] live where it was just baby’s face was all that was showing. And also this matters baby was having a really rough day. We were having tummy problems, you know, you name it. So we were, wrangling with trying to get this bum up and baby ended up spitting up.
Starting to choke. So I am, you know, immediately picked baby up to, you know, help her out. ’cause it wasn’t one of those situations where you could just leave, you know, baby there. Yeah. So I picked her up and started to work on her and I just, in my mind wasn’t thinking and I was just thinking the safety of the baby.
Yeah. And I ended up getting completely naked baby on the live. And because my account had so many followers, when I would do a live, I had thousands of people watching at one time. So this was a lot of people watching and reporting immediately. Oh. And so because of that, it just automatically stopped my life and it logged me out and my account just went, it was just gone.
I did an appeal, but I didn’t get it back. So went [00:06:00] through a phase of, you know, not having that account and I learned my lesson. I will never, ever, you know, do anything like that again. I thought I was safe in just showing baby’s face, but. You know, one thing happened and my brain just totally was only on baby, and you know, so that’s what happened.
So anyway, I started over. After a while, I honestly went through a period where I was kind of mad about it, you know, if you will. Yeah. So I just, whenever took a little break and then I realized how important honestly, TikTok became for me, for my inquiries. ’cause I will be honest, I put all of my eggs in one basket.
And I quit paying as much attention to my Instagram and my Facebook and stuff. Yeah. And so my increase just weren’t as much there as they were before. So I knew I needed to start back and you know, it kind of was slow, but I honestly wasn’t posting like I knew I should have been. I was just kind of pitching if it.
And after a while I’m like, no, I’m going to really just get it all. That was probably like a few months ago. This summer I really started to give it my all and post a few times a day and do all the things you’re supposed to [00:07:00] do. And it’s working again. It’s building, which is great ’cause the inquiries are coming in.
Yes. You know, a lot more. And so anyway, that’s what happened and I just knew it was, it’s good for business. I’m gonna be honest. A lot of people, drag their tail when it comes to posting and recording. And I get, it’s not for everybody, but times I feel like are changing a little bit.
Lisa: Mm-hmm.
Kelsey: And I’ve seen just vast growth in my business as I started doing it, and then a dip when it went away.
So to me it’s just super important. It’s just part of my daily job now. You know? It’s just part of what I worked into my routine, so it was worth it. A little frustrating, but, well, you know, you’ve gotta get past that stuff.
Lisa: I love that because that’s such a testimony to resilience, but also. To your strategy on how you are using it to your benefit.
So maybe if there’s someone who maybe has had a TikTok for a while is very inconsistent to vote posting, it’s hard. What tips do you have for growth, especially in 2025?
Kelsey: Yes. Okay, so here’s the one thing that [00:08:00] kind of tends to hurt people’s feelings sometimes, but there’s something called like a selfish poster, and that’s people who just post the bare minimum.
They will literally just post, like for instance, your regular vlogger. Okay? Not even photography. They’ll get in the car and they’re like. All right, well, we’re gonna go get some coffee and then later I think we’ll do this. And you’re expecting people to stay around for something that’s honestly very boring.
People have the attention span of a fly, and so you really need to give them something very quickly or provide something for them. I’ve learned people love to learn something or laugh or have an inside scoop, like they need something in it for them typically. And so. You just kind of start posting those sort of things, focusing on maybe what would other people like to see.
So that’s one thing that can really help, but also consistency. You’ve gotta show up for yourself every day, and sometimes it can feel like a chore, that’s for sure. But. I learned after a while just to make it part of my daily routine. Just like when you’re building your photography business, you start learning after a while.
[00:09:00] Oh, I need to have like professional contracts, you know? Oh, maybe I can use like a CRM. Well, this is one of those things, oh, I’m just gonna record my, everything, everything of content. I’m just gonna record everything and then we’ll work it into videos. Later and then you set time aside to edit video. But it just really, it pays off in the end if you keep posting.
And just really try to think about though the content you’re posting. ’cause a lot of times people will post very short videos. That just kind of don’t interest people. Right. So voiceovers do well, you know, just think about your content, really try not to be a selfish poster.
Lisa: Totally. Now, do you have like a specific target audience that you are targeting?
Like is it prospective clients or it’s just like in general, people that like babies.
Kelsey: Literally anybody. It’s, and here’s why I say this, because I have found through TikTok, your client out there, they’re out there for you. They just haven’t found you yet. Because once I started posting on TikTok, I learned that wow, people are willing to travel really far for sessions.
I’ve had someone [00:10:00] come fly to me twice now from Africa for maternity pictures. I have people from all over, all over because they see my video and they see my personality and they say, oh, for maternity pictures you would make me feel comfortable. Or for newborn, they’re like, oh, I trust you with my baby.
And so those things people really cherish and value that. I never knew how much, but people are out there that even if they have a budget, they’ll still make it work to come to you no matter how far you are. There are people that travel to me where I know there’s amazing photographers and they still come to me because I’m what they want.
They found me. So I have no target audience. I’m literally just posting whatever. Love it. Sometimes you end up on the wrong side of TikTok, you get the trolls and Yep. You just gotta keep going past it. And honestly, welcome those comments. Don’t delete ’em. ’cause the more they comment, the better your video will do.
And you do make money off of it as well. So anyway. Yeah. I just post whatever I feel like and let it land in whoever’s lap. [00:11:00] I love it. And do you post every single day? If I try to post three times a day if I can. If I can’t. Yeah, it’s hard. It is hard to do three times a day and sometimes I break that up into like, I’ll do like a small little clip it video.
Yeah. But that all comes into, you know, just really planning things out. Mm-hmm. But also remember everything’s content and you can break stuff up a lot. But I try to do three times a day if I’m able to. But if not one time a day really is my goal. But I’ve had a really last, like few weeks, I honestly haven’t posted much at all.
Oh, well, you know, yeah. It’s for life.
Lisa: But it’s so funny because the algorithm will all of a sudden take one of my once that didn’t do well, and then all of a sudden it’s like. Out there and I’m like, oh, what’s happening?
Kelsey: Yeah. Right. It snowballs, it, there’s like a whole snowball effect because somebody will come across your video and they might like one video and not even follow you.
Yeah. But then liking it, they’ll probably get another one of your videos. Yeah. Well the more videos you have in your past feed the more is gonna circulate out there and so it just increases your chance of videos, snowballing.
Lisa: Yeah, I love that. [00:12:00] Love that. Yeah. So how do you approach clients while during a paid client session to film the content?
Kelsey: Oh, okay. So I always take my inquiries through like email and I try to find out how they found out about me. Typically, it’s from TikTok and so I know that they’ve like seen my videos and it was part of my thing. I have it in my contract that it is, part of what I do, but I just. Ask them at session, Hey, are you cool with me sharing it?
You know? Yeah. And if they are, cool, if not, cool. I have seen an influx of people lately telling me, yes, I’m okay with you recording and sharing, and then I’ll spend all the time in a session getting the camera, not all the time, it doesn’t take that long, but spend time setting up the camera and recording stuff all for them to ask later, oh, actually we don’t want you to share any.
So it’s like, ah. But of course you respect it. You respect it. Yeah. So I’ve actually just changed my packages and my pricing. I have two price options, shareable and private because social media is such a huge part of my life now. So now I know upfront what you want and you pay for it. If you want it private, they actually pay more.
[00:13:00] It’s a discount if you let me share it that way. There’s no confusion later on. ’cause it’s one of those things. And in this business, once you get your butt burned a few, times you learn, oh, not gonna happen again. So I’ve just recently changed it. In my pricing. So hopefully we won’t have any more issues like that.
Lisa: Well that’s, that’s so interesting. I love that because your people are finding you on TikTok, so that is something they would be expecting. Right. And someone who’s like in a regular Google search may not, right? Yeah. And they may not know.
Kelsey: I’ll ask at the session, are you cool with me?
Recording. And if they say no, cool. If they’ve already signed the model release and everything in the contract, yeah. But still, if they change their mind and say no, obviously I, honor that. Totally,
Lisa: totally. I love that. So a lot of content photographers overthink content creation. How do you get outta your head and start creating again when you feel like you are in your flop era?
Kelsey: Okay, so this kind of goes back to the whole content is everything thing. You really just kind of have to get outta your [00:14:00] head and just start recording. Because trust me when I say there’s so many things that I post that I cringe at all the time, I absolutely cringe at, but it’s whatever it, you just gotta get outta that and remind yourself, other people’s opinion of me is a, none of my business.
I just need to post what I wanna post, and the people that like me and appreciate me are gonna flock to me and those that don’t. Oh, well. So you really just have to. Just start. It’s awful to say, and I know it sounds annoying, but you really just kind of have to start recording and eventually you’re gonna find your niche.
’cause not everybody likes to do all the same stuff. The content that I post is a lot of recording and a lot of editing, and there’s other ways to go about it where it’s not as much editing and time. So you’ll find what. Your groove is, but you just have to literally set a camera up and record it. It, because otherwise you’re never, you’re never gonna start an object that rest stays at rest.
So gotta get the ball going, you know?
Lisa: [00:15:00] Love that. Love that. So you’ve been really open about your mental health journey and how it affects the way you run your business. So what practices or boundaries have made the biggest difference for you?
Kelsey: Oh my goodness. I mean, I really, really have learned that I’ve gotta have a routine structure in my life.
I have had to learn that no is a complete sentence, things like that. After a while, I feel like I just get so tired of like going in circles doing the same thing. That, they say insanity is just repetitiveness going round and round, and that’s exactly what it feels like. It’s like you’re just overwhelmed.
So finally you just gotta figure out what works for you and for me, it’s organization, it’s routine and structure. So I have just tried to implement that in everything. I’ve got alarms, I set time aside for certain tasks. Every [00:16:00] single day or whatever. And I have certain days for certain things that I’m gonna do.
And so that has really helped with everything, if you will, because you know when I feel like your environment reflects your brain. So if my house is out of order, my brain feels out of order, and I, you know, I grew up in a really strict household with like super clean house all the time and everything.
And then when I got older, I kind of let that go a little bit, you know? And I just learned like my mom was right about all this like lists and like a clean home, starting your day and not clean. Like, I don’t mean like my house is clean, but just things like trying to keep up with the laundry or dishes or whatever.
It just helps really everything. And I carry that into my business as well. As far as how organized I’ve gotten with that. I am very organized with things and I hold myself. Accountable, for instance, turnaround times. That used to actually be a huge thing for me when it came to like my mental health, because I felt like my [00:17:00] clients, I could never express my life on social media or else my clients would be like,
Lisa: right.
Kelsey: Messaging me, Hey,
Lisa: where’s my pictures?
Kelsey: Yes. And I could never live my life. Yeah. So I became very structured with that. I gave myself a turnaround time, but I gave myself ample turnaround time. I gave myself grace to like have a week where I didn’t wanna do anything, you know? Yeah. So I have my turnaround time and I make it clear to my clients, they sign off on it, so there’s no questions.
And then we just explain everything. So if they ask, okay, here’s your answer, and if they have a problem, be like revert back to the contract, and yeah, the questionnaire and literally everything. It took out that guilt anytime I wanted to share on social media, it’s like, well, you know when your stuff’s coming, but this allows me to also live my life.
So little things like that have really helped with like, you know, just having a happy atmosphere up here.
Lisa: Totally. And it’s so funny ’cause I’ve had that too. I’ve gone to the movies and seen a client and I knew their gallery was due and I just like the guilt and almost shame that washed over me [00:18:00] like, I should be at home working and I shouldn’t be living my life.
That’s so wrong. We need to have those boundaries and to like be able to feel like we have that space. Exactly. So are you editing all your photos? Still or you? Or do you It’s first.
Kelsey: Yeah. I actually do. I am a massive control freak and so I am editing everything myself. Yeah, yeah. You get it. Luckily though, like AI has been amazing, you know, that has really helped a lot.
I honestly was into Photoshop before I everyth even got into photography. I used to make my space layouts back the day. I, neat. So I’ve been into Photoshop, so when I got into photography, I was all into editing. It’s never been an issue. But with an increase in volume, with like my tiktoks and stuff, it was harder to keep up.
So I did hire out editors for a while, but then the AI came out and it’s so easy to tackle like cellulite and like stuff like that now. So it’s just me again. I love it. How big are your galleries? It just depends on what they pick. So basically we’ll just go [00:19:00] with like newborn. My newborn baby. Only regular session is 15 pictures.
And they can, order more if they want to. But 15 to me is, I don’t know. Plenty. I think for the setups I do. And then family 20, I’d always like the option to like upsell. I don’t wanna offer 50 pictures, you know, because A, that’s a lot of time. I don’t wanna charge for all that off the bat. So, but as far as like the proof that I send out, I might send out for like a family newborn, I might send out like 80 to a hundred.
Yeah. Something for them to pick from. And narrow down to 20. I don’t like to overshoot too bad. I used to be really bad about,
Lisa: oh, oh God, I’m still am really bad girl. Like really bad.
Kelsey: That’s one of those things that’s helped me though, because I used to dread and procrastinate culling because I knew just ’cause
Lisa: it’s overwhelming.
Kelsey: Yeah. Yeah. And so I started looking at it and I’m like, okay, well how are we gonna narrow that down? Well, let’s get more precise at shooting. So I tried to really start putting in on exactly what I’m shooting and not [00:20:00] overdoing it. That’s helped, honestly. Yeah. It’s little things like that you realize, you’re like, ah, here’s a problem I’m doing.
I’m procrastinating. Yeah. Why am I procrastinating? Well,
Lisa: Uhhuh,
Kelsey: because I’m overwhelmed.
Lisa: I’m my own worst enemy, and I’m too generous for my own good. My packages say 25. I consistently give 50 to 75. Like sometimes triple like, what’s wrong with me? You’re awesome.
Kelsey: Nothing. Nothing. You’re a people pleaser, aren’t you?
Yes. Mm-hmm. Yes.
Lisa: And I’ll send three times the amount that I should be and. Yeah, I know I’m doing like everyone in my whole world is like, Lisa, what the heck are you doing? And I just like, can’t stop. I am like an overgiving like addict here.
Kelsey: I know your community loves that. They know when they go to you, they’re getting some good stuff.
I used to be like that, but I only stopped because like after a while I felt. I was so busy to edit extras and I felt like they were gonna come back the next time and be like, well, why aren’t I getting extras like I [00:21:00] did last time? So I quit doing that a while ago, but when I stopped, people probably thought the same thing.
’cause I used to always give out extras. I might give out like two extras now if they don’t pick one of my favorites or something. But you are amazing for sending that mini out. That’s awesome.
Lisa: No, I’m an idiot. I’m an idiot. And I spend, and I am like, I’m a fine art editor girl. Like I hand edit it. I’m not just throwing a preset in action.
Oh my. Like I am spending time, but oh my God, I can’t wait to share. I’ll tell Kelly something after. Okay, I’ve got something brew brewing and I’m very excited to share it, but I can’t share. Okay. You guys will, you guys will find it later. Excited. How do you find the balance between staying visible online and also protecting your personal life, your energy, and your mental health?
Kelsey: Okay, so basically I try my hardest to have a back pile of stuff. It’s, I’m being honest, ’cause I know me and I know that I’m going to get burnt out. I always do it like every other month. So I try to have as much stuff as I [00:22:00] can. On stock so I can just post it on days that I’m not feeling it. It’s just like people pre-schedule their posts on Instagram and Facebook, same thing.
So I can typically tell when I’m starting to get a little burnout and when that’s the case, I try to just lay it out straight and just say, okay, I’m gonna dedicate. Either, if I have a whole day, I’m gonna dedicate a whole day to editing as much as I possibly can in one day, like not getting up to do anything.
I’m just editing. Or if I have a busy week, I have to block out certain hours to dedicate, to edit. But I will get my stuff done and typically I’ll edit like a week’s worth or two weeks worth of stuff in one day, and then I have this the next week or whatever off, unless I have sessions. I just, I’ve learned that I know me and I always get burnouts.
To me, there’s no way to. Avoidant. And I think that’s a lot of artists though. We give our all so much when we’re feeling creative and [00:23:00] passionate, and then you just need a break. Don’t feel guilty about that. Just prepare for it. And I’m telling you what, my life was in a downward spiral a few years ago because I was not as organized as I needed to be.
And I looked at stuff like this and I said, no, we’re just fixing it. And it’s really helped so much. So just make as much as you can when you have your pockets of time. Just try to be smart with your time. That’s really what I’ve done, and don’t try to think you’re not gonna burn out if you feel it, slow it down a little bit.
Otherwise your burnout’s gonna be weeks long, you know? So true. How often are you shooting? Oh, gosh. Every day. Just about, wow. Now that my account’s gotten better again, so, okay. When my TikTok was doing well the first time, I was typically doing three to four sessions Tuesday through Friday. My kids don’t go to school on Mondays, and then I take the weekends off.
So Tuesday through Friday was my shooting time and I would do three to four sessions. And then my [00:24:00] TikTok went away and I was doing, you know, sporadic here and there. I don’t know, a few a month, a couple of months like it went down. So then I started my account back up and I’m back to, I think I did like 11.
This past week, I think. Wow. So it’s really picked back up a lot. So, yeah, very busy. That’s why I just had a burnout. I’m just fresh outta my burnout right now. I haven’t posted in like three weeks, so I just finished like a long, I’ve had I think 10 days, nine days of shooting every single day, even over the weekend.
And today’s my first off day, so I’ve been working on some videos this morning before. And then when we get done, I’ll have a little bit of time for, I gotta get my kid so busy, busy. But I’m grateful for it. It’s what I want. Yeah. You know, so yeah, that’s, that’s how much I’m doing. I’m telling you what tiktoks, where it’s at right now.
Yeah. Love, it’ll help you book up. It’s not about the numbers, but it helps you book up and get, you know, [00:25:00] clients. So that’s the goal.
Lisa: So you often encourage photographers to stop worrying about what everyone else is doing. So what does keeping your blinders on look like for you in real life,
Kelsey: I had to pull away a little bit from social media.
Honestly. I really just got on social media to post my own stuff. And I will say this, I despise social media. If I wasn’t a business owner, I would be off of it. Like, I know I don’t want to be on it. And you feel it. It’s a lot of work. It really is. But I feel like in this day and age, you have to be a content creator for your business to really blossom because it’s always been a saturated market.
But I just feel like everybody’s going after being a business owner. The economy, so many people don’t have jobs. People are just doing their own thing. And I feel like photography’s one of those things. A lot of people, you know, start with. So I just wouldn’t do social media if I didn’t have to. And I feel like we do with this.
Yeah. So I just, I’ve pulled away from social media. A whole lot. And because it really takes a lot of time too, honestly. Mm-hmm. And comparison is the thief of joy, I will say. Like it truly is you, just that they’re [00:26:00] steering at other people’s stuff all day long. Then it’s like, ah. And not to sound like I’m this like jealous person who hates that.
Other people do amazing stuff. It’s not that at all. It’s just that. I don’t know. For me, I’ve just wasted a lot of potential work time, delving too much into what everybody else is doing, when I just need to be diving more deep inside, spending that time on my creative level and pushing myself out there.
Try not to worry about what everybody else is doing. ’cause it sucks you in and you just gotta focus on you sometimes at, at least for me, and not to say I’m not a girl’s girl, you know, when I get on social media Totally. I’m liking posts and commenting and all that. You sure. But I try to, to, I, I just try to like.
I know pull back as as much as I can just to watch the burnout. Really, at the end of the day, I feel like they’re gonna get tired of hearing me say that word.
Lisa: I think it’s so important ’cause there’s been so many [00:27:00] chapters. ’cause I’m running two companies with Milky Way and my photography business that I tend to take on too much as we know.
I’m a people pleaser and I’ll say yes to too many sessions and I’ll say yes to like, I just put too much on my plate and then I burn out and spin out and my husband has to deal with it. And he doesn’t like that.
Kelsey: And you know what I have to say though? I love hearing that you honestly go through that as well because you’re probably one of the most organized people I’ve ever met in my life.
Like how prepared and organized you are. And so it’s refreshing to hear that like even you go through that sort of stuff, no matter how put together, everybody seems,
We’re all human.
Lisa: Well, let me tell you a story because , when I saw that come through on the email, my team sent that to me and oh my gosh, it touched my heart so much, but.
I have to tell you the backstory because I shared that and sent it to my parents because I was the most disorganized person growing up. I would like, I was in trouble really all the time. I couldn’t get assignments in on time. I’d forget about homework, I’d forget about tests. I even was put in an organization summer [00:28:00] camp.
Learn how to be organized, and I still couldn’t do it. So then I went to university and I got into event planning, which they thought was, what the heck? Like you are the most disorganized person. And I started event planning and then somehow I learned how to be organized. So if you are not a natural at something, if you’re out there and you’re like, oh my God, like I am chaotic and disorganized.
Yeah, me too. But you can train yourself not to be with systems. Right.
Kelsey: I love that you’re saying that because that’s exactly what I’ve, I’m in the process of doing the past few years has been my process. I can imagine wedding planning puled you like you had to become organized. So that definitely helped.
It worked. You are so organized. I love that though. It really shows you can train yourself,
Lisa: you can change you like you don’t have to be stuck in who you’ve always been told You are like, especially maybe growing up you were told you weren’t creative or maybe you were told you weren’t good at math or you weren’t smart.
You can change that story at any time. You can choose and decide what you wanna be and [00:29:00] train yourself to do it.
Kelsey: That’s the darn truth. Yeah,
Lisa: you bet. You love it.
Kelsey: So many people go through that.
Lisa: Right? And we just think that everybody else is like a natural, like, oh my gosh, I was not a natural newborn photographer.
I was horrific. Like if I could be half as good as the people starting now, that would be amazing.
Kelsey: Yeah, I know. It’s crazy how quick some people are like catching on. It’s like, where were your five years of sucking?
Lisa: Yes. I love it. Love it, love it, love it. So you mentioned a little bit about running a business with ADD OCD and anxiety.
It can be a unique challenge. So as we’re talking about systems and habits, what has helped you stay productive but also creative? So lists.
Kelsey: I mean, literally to me, I’m a list girly. I am an Excel spreadsheet. Anything that I can, I have in writing and routines, that has helped. So, for instance, I quit responding back.
Well not [00:30:00] quit responding back. I quit communicating with people through Messenger dms, my phone, I took my phone number off of Google like a decade ago. Mm-hmm. You want me, you email me, there’s a contact for my website, or I leave my email everywhere. I have an automated response on my messages saying to email me.
So that right there allows me to only have one place to check, make sure I’m not missing anything. It’s little things over the years that I’ve learned like. We’re not good for business that you learn to change, you know? So I also have allotted certain days throughout the week, so my kids, I don’t go to school Monday and then Tuesday I sometimes will shoot, but I really like to dedicate that just as an admin day.
And then I really only wanna shoot Wednesday through Friday. So really just having certain times dedicated to me has really, really helped any sort of checklist and like this, I will show you this. It’s my holy grail. My kids know not to touch it. Yeah. Like this is what I organize all my sessions on.[00:31:00]
Every single page is completely organized. Wow. With due dates, turnaround times, like you name it. And so organized systems like this help me prevent chaos, if at all possible. And then just having everything laid out nicely for clients, so when I talk to them, I can just copy and paste. I used to avoid way back in the day, I would avoid responding to inquiries because it was so much to type out.
I was intimately responding to every person, and then I realized that just takes way too much time. So now I have a copy and paste thing. Now I will say you can get more automated than that. People have their CRMs, you know, set up where they get an inquiry, it automatically sends. I don’t do that because I get a lot of people asking about.
Mentoring or just a lot of stuff like that. So I know that not all my emails are, gonna be ones that can be automated. So I don’t do all of that, but copy and paste, and then all of my info packets are extremely detailed with the FAQs [00:32:00] and you name it. So I don’t have to really type much out ever.
It’s all just pre-done and just stuff like this. I said turnaround times. That was huge for me. Back in the day, I wasn’t great with turnaround times. I was a little late, a good bit. I realized that’s ’cause I was trying to promise something shorter than what I could actually handle with having kids. I needed to be realistic with my life.
So I started making my turnaround times realistic and I am never late. I haven’t been past a turnaround time in like probably seven years or something. Or longer. Once you find that system that works.
Lisa: Mm-hmm.
Kelsey: To me it just works. But you just gotta find what works. But if it’s broken, try to find a solution.
You don’t have to be stuck in the cycle of, like, I see photographers all the time talking about how they’re drowning in editing and stuff, and to me part of that was quit overbooking yourself. You have to learn when to push things back a little [00:33:00] bit with the schedule and make people book farther out.
Too many people are yes people when they, I think need to be a little bit more structured because at the end of the day, you’re running a business and customer service is huge. And if you’re constantly getting like bad reviews from people about, oh, I felt like I was on the back burner or whatever, that’s not good.
And I had that years, years, years ago I had that and I hated it. So I changed those things. And it has really helped, but you also have to hold yourself accountable, obviously, too. Yeah. You gotta hold yourself accountable. But just having those systems in place. I tell you what, don’t hold off on lists.
I’m the type of person, if I’m writing a list and I’ve already done something that I meant to write down, but I’ve already done it, I’ll write it down just so I can scratch it off.
Lisa: I know. Me too. Like that.
Kelsey: That satisfaction. I don’t know. You just need it in the brain sometimes. So my mom would be so proud.
She’s gonna love to listen to this. I love it. She just had to hammer in my head my whole childhood.
Lisa: You know what changed everything for me was actually when I started scheduling [00:34:00] editing in my workday. Instead of being like, this is what I do after work. You know what I mean? Like Oh yeah. I edit during work hours instead of sitting in front of the computer.
Yes. Like sitting like, well, I’m not talking to my husband. Although now sometimes I’m just on my phone, so I gotta quit that habit. I gotta delete t TikTok again. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Because I will scroll for four hours and I’m just like, Lisa, you can be doing something if you’re on your phone, just go into cap cut, make something
Kelsey: right.
That’s why I was saying earlier, I was like, I had to get off social media because it was just time wasted when it could have been spent in a better direction.
Lisa: Yeah. I gotta get better at that. You feel it. I’m just a work in progress too, guys.
Kelsey: Everybody is.
Lisa: So how do you recognize when you’re starting to slip towards burnout and what helps you reset?
Kelsey: I can totally tell when I’m starting to get unmotivated and I don’t have the energy to edit or whatever. I just feel. Tired and I just don’t wanna do it. So I’ve learned that you have to give grace for that and have a reset. So, you know, how do I reset? [00:35:00] First, I just wanna make sure I’m good on everything.
So I’ll go over all of my due dates, line up what needs to be delivered, when I will throw on some good music, put on my headphones, not just on there but headphones. So I am not distracted, and I will just knock out what I’ve gotta get done over the next few days. And once that’s done, then I know okay, I can have a little bit of time now.
Yeah, just to breathe. I would rather take one hardcore day and work. Have some time off then work every single day. Yeah. So I like to go outside honestly too, and just like get in nature when I need to, and that really helps as well because I feel like sometimes I’m just stuck either in the studio or in front of the computer, and that’s not good.
You need sunshine and all that. So yeah, when I’m feeling burnout, I will just. I’ll just go outside a lot, honestly, too, but I mean, really, I just try to give myself grace if I feel it coming on. You can typically tell, I mean, everybody burns out after a while. You start to [00:36:00] learn, when am I burning out?
Everybody burns out over different things, but a lot of times for me it’s just when I am going hardcore for a while and you know, you’re so motivated and you’re just like, oh, we’re doing it, which is great. So I’ve learned, okay, instead of going crazy with the videos, just post like two, don’t try to post five in one day.
Although I have the content and I just made all these videos, you know?
Lisa: Awesome. And you’re like, I wanna post everything.
Kelsey: Yeah, I know. Just try to go slower. Try to go slower. Yeah. It literally happens for me like every month or two months.
Lisa: Love that.
Kelsey: Mm-hmm.
Lisa: So you have a commercial space. Yes. And how long have you had it and what made you have the decision to have a commercial space?
So
Kelsey: I got a commercial space four years ago, but before that, I actually finished out my basement and I shot outta my basement for a year. So I love having it in the basement because you’re right there, you know, and it’s a lot cheaper than having a storefront. But I hated it because I didn’t have an outdoor exit [00:37:00] and clients had to come to my home, go through my whole house, and I had to keep everything spotless.
So. That was not for me. So we ended up moving four years ago and when we moved I just said, I need to just get a storefront here. I’m not doing the basement thing again. So I started the studio and let me tell you, it’s like the best thing ever. Yeah. I absolutely love it. I started doing studio stuff and then I just quit doing outdoor like Yeah.
It’s amazing because like you can shoot in the mornings, it’s not dictated on. Sun or weather, you don’t have nearly as many reschedules. So I just love, love of having a studio. And although it is more overhead, I still feel like it balances out because I get a lot of clients to come to me to say they saw my store front and they just, they didn’t see me on social media and they’re just local.
So I get clients that way as well. So it kind of, you know, makes it worth the mm-hmm. Overhead. But [00:38:00] clients do sometimes tell me that it feels just nice to have an actual place to go to. Yeah. Which I can understand, but also for anybody who has, like any sort of studio space of your own house, don’t feel like you know any less than because you’ve got mm-hmm.
Not a storefront. I will say though, I loved the removal of people coming to my home. ’cause I’m like a hermit crab. I just, I’m a private person for the most part. I just, I don’t know. I, I don’t like it. It weirds me out. People know I’m where I live for some reason, so I love having just a separate storefront and I don’t have to worry about, oh, we gotta cut the grass real quick ’cause somebody’s coming over.
It takes a lot of that extra stress of trying to be a perfectionist out. Just have to focus on keeping the studio perfect. Yeah. For those clients it, but it’s honestly really, really nice to have like a, just a space where everything’s yours. I used to hate going to other, ’cause I also used to travel to people’s homes for their newborn sessions, and I would get really bad [00:39:00] anxiety going to someone’s home.
Mm-hmm. Or going even just to an outdoor location that I didn’t know. I mean, I’m talking about like. Bubble guts. I feel like I could throw up in the car on the way to a photo shoot. I don’t care that I’ve been doing it a decade. Yeah, I get nervous every single time, and so having my own place where my stuff is.
It has just taken out every ounce of nerves. Yeah. And it’s just made my anxiety just completely go away. I don’t know if that’s weird, but it’s definitely helped that.
Lisa: No, I love it. Sometimes structure really does do that. I was the same. I’ve had commercial space, I’ve at home space and now I’m actually starting to do posed at home, which is going into clients at home and doing post sessions there.
Yeah. So I’m tiptoeing into it and, but I’m seeing like you, anxiety, how is it going? Anxiety. Honestly, I love it. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, it’s so weird. But also I started some medication in June to take care of like anxiety and stuff, so I’m thinking that might be helping me. So this is my journey
Kelsey: maybe.
That’s
Lisa: awesome though. [00:40:00] So do you travel far for it? No, it’s mainly just local in town. Oh good. And what, what had actually happened in June, my entire street, we lived on sort of a main street, but we’ve got a long driveway setback. And it got completely torn up because they’re redoing the sewer lines and the water lines and every like day, it’s a surprise if I can get into my house or not because it’s constantly being torn up and oh my God, going in and outta the pipes and like it’s crazy.
So I ended up just going, okay, well this is becoming stressful for me, wondering if my clients can even access. Yeah. So I said, okay, well let’s try opposed at home. Let me try coming to you. Oh my gosh. I tried it and loved it and it was wild because normally my studio takes like, oh gosh, I get up at 6:00 AM and turn all the heaters to get everything to temperature and I can take my two heaters.
I say, gimme the smallest room. I’ll take all my things and I’m heat it in 10 minutes and
Kelsey: Wow. Yeah.
Lisa: So do you
Kelsey: do like all beanbag stuff or do you [00:41:00] like, do you bring props or both?
Lisa: Yeah. Oh
Kelsey: wow.
Lisa: Yeah. Yeah, so that’s awesome. Eventually I’ll be sharing some behind the scenes on it and yeah, I’m really excited about it though ’cause it’s sort of a hybrid of lifestyle and post and so yeah, it’s my post at home.
Oh, have fun.
Kelsey: It sounds honestly quite perfect for your style. That’s awesome to hear. Great. Yeah, I can’t wait to see about it. Yeah.
Lisa: You are known for your humor and your authenticity online. Has it always come naturally or did it take time to own your voice?
Kelsey: No, this is just me, like literally just me.
Everybody that meets me tells me they’ll say yes. She’s exactly who you see online. It’s just, yeah, that’s me. I always grew up being told that I was obnoxious, loud, annoying, you know, and it didn’t really bother me as a child. But I got older and I started to learn more about me and who I am, and that is just part of me.
I had just. Sometimes don’t think twice. For I say something and I just talk really quickly sometimes and people have tell me to slow down, but [00:42:00] that’s just me and that’s all you can do really. You just need to be you. You want people to find you for being you. You don’t want to try to force who you are on social media ’cause then it comes off as fake, you know?
Right. Just be yourself. Yeah.
Lisa: Love it, love it, love it, love it. You ready for our lightning round? Okay. What’s your go-to caffeine fix or comfort drink when editing.
Kelsey: Okay. Go to caffeine. I actually have ’em both right here. This is my coffee and that is a hold brew dark roast with sugar-free French vanilla creamer.
And then I also love, they’re not good for you, but cotton candy, bang.
Lisa: Oh, they’re really good too. Yeah.
Kelsey: I don’t think we have that in Canada. Oh, really? Oh, they’re good. I like them. And I’m trying to think of the name of the other one that I drink. Well, I can’t remember. Anyway. And then water. I’m a water girly.
My whole family actually is fun. Fact, we don’t drink any, my kids even only drink water. I will try to give them apple juice or like nothing ever. So we all just. Water, which [00:43:00] is great for the bill when you go to out to eat or something. Yeah. You know? But yeah, water really. Coffee and cotton candy, bang.
Lisa: Oh shit.
What’s one song that instantly boosts your mood?
Kelsey: Right now? I’m gonna be honest. It’s a, a new release. It’s called Wood by Taylor Swift.
Lisa: It’s just fun. It was funny when that album came out. I was waiting at midnight when it came out and, oh yeah, actually it was nine. It was 9:00 PM ’cause I think it came out west or.
Eastern time and Oh yeah. I listened to 30 seconds of every song and I was like, Uhhuh, this is such a good album.
Kelsey: Yeah. What is so fun? I, I’m listening to it on repeat right now.
Lisa: I love it. What’s one thing that helps you reset on a tough day?
Kelsey: Honestly, I just love going outside, really listening to nature.
When we moved, we got a house in like. The woods and it’s just like woods all around birds. So I just like to go outside and ground myself, touch [00:44:00] grass, just hang out outdoors. That really helps me a bunch and just get off my phone.
Lisa: What’s your podcast you’re obsessed with right now?
Kelsey: There is one photography podcast, cameras in car seats, and they are two mom photographer friends and they’re awesome.
They’re friends with the newborn nerds. And. So they had me on. So I love them. But as far as like, you know, things, you know, that I watch or whatever, I don’t watch tv. I don’t watch anything. I watch one YouTuber couple, they, their name’s Kara and Nate and they do traveling around the world. Yeah, Kara’s like me, bubbly and all that.
So I watch them, but that is it. Otherwise I’m working or sleeping. Yeah. Fair enough.
Lisa: Love it. So you are coming back to teach for the online newborn retreat. So can you share what you’ll be teaching?
Kelsey: I’m gonna be doing maternity. I know I’m gonna be doing like advanced lighting with the maternity, we’re just gonna be working with multiple lights and all of that.[00:45:00]
But I’m also gonna be teaching newborn as well, probably working with props or wrapped or something like that. I’m filming my maternity one this week, this Friday, and then my newborn one is gonna be after that. Yeah. So, yeah. But maternity is gonna be really awesome. So I’ll plan out. I got new backdrops with panels and.
Multiple lights and it’s gonna be really awesome. I love it. Yeah,
Lisa: love it. You always go the extra mile.
Kelsey: You’re so good. I try and I always feel like I’m like under delivering too, so
Lisa: I love it. So, okay, well good. Well, where can our listeners learn more from you?
Kelsey: I just post a lot on my social medias on TikTok.
You can find me under, okay. This might be confusing because I’ve got, my new account that I made is Kelsey Freeman photo. Then I made a backup account. Mm-hmm. Kelsey Freeman Photography, which was my old name. So the good one to follow now is Kelsey Freeman photo, and then Instagram and Facebook and YouTube are all Kelsey Freeman photography.
I [00:46:00] have a few more long. Form videos on my YouTube and I try to teach like, you know, lighting and stuff like that on there. So yeah, just on social media.
Lisa: Love it. I love it. So I love to end my interviews just with this last question, and it is, what are you currently curious about or artistically curious about?
Kelsey: I’m gonna be so honest right now. I am in a creative rut. I’ve just been like so busy with work I haven’t even been, but one thing that’s very interesting to me is projectors. I really wanna play around with projectors, with lighting. I’ve been playing around with a lot of models lately. I’ve been using like professional models from Atlanta just to play around with not pregnant people.
It’s super fun to, you know, be able to move them a little bit more. And so I’ve been trying to get creative with lighting and I really just wanna play around with some like super powerful projectors, smoke machines, that sort of stuff is really kind of what’s interesting to me right now. And gels, [00:47:00] of course
Lisa: gels are cool.
I love that. I’ve never played with them, but it’s on my like. To do.
Kelsey: Oh, girl. It’s so fun. Literally, I started playing with it and I haven’t looked back. I’m like, they, they just, they add a little extra pop, you know, to the picture. Yeah. I love them. So, yeah. You, girl, you gotta do it. I’m gonna, I’m gonna,
Lisa: yeah.
Well, Kelsey, thank you so much for joining me today.
Kelsey: Thank you for having having me. I had so much fun. I appreciate it. It’s always awesome talking to you,
Lisa: all my beautiful friends. I hope you have loved this conversation just as much as I have. I am sending you so much of my light and my love today and every single day.
We’ll see you next time.u.
You are not crazy. You’re not dramatic. You’re just carrying more than most people can see,
and I hope today you give yourself what you need, whether it’s a nap, a walk, a cry, or a journal session in your comfiest hoodie, whether it’s saying no to something good because you need [00:06:00] space for something better like your own sanity. You’ve got nothing to prove and you don’t have to keep absorbing everything to be worthy of love or rest.
That’s what I’m learning anyways, that maybe I can be present, loving, dependable, and also take care of myself. Maybe I still can be the soft place without being the shock absorber 24 7. Thanks for tuning in today my friend. And thank you again to Michelle Obama for putting words to what so many of us feel.
But never say out loud, we are the shock absorbers, but maybe we don’t always have to be. Until next time, my friend, be gentle with yourself. I’m sending you so much of my light and my love today and every single day. We’ll see you next time.
