Well, I think I've made this process as easy on myself and my clients as I possibly could, but there are still things to wrestle with even 9 months after announcing my retirement. I'm sharing this in the event that you're also exploring leaving a business that has been running for a decade or more, with regard to how you might plan your exit strategy. (all photos from my instagram feed)
When I announced the changes in my photography business last year, I had that very optimistic outlook about how much time I'll have "after I retire" to think about everything else I've been wanting to do and create, but the reality has taken much more time to get to a place of being able to think about anything else.
The first 4 months after my announcement were spent finishing projects that were still immediately on the table, as well as a few more projects clients wanted me to take care of before I completely unplugged and spent the summer traveling. It turns out that wrapping up a photography business and pulling back from awesomely loyal clients takes almost as much headspace, time, and expense as keeping the business going. I should have known this based on the other businesses I've helped close or transfer, but of course it's always different when you're in the middle of doing the work.
The second 4 months were pretty splendid and blissful, traveling city to city and country to country, while allowing myself to be completely disconnected from email, or managing client needs, or customer service, or responding to bid requests, or following up with new leads, as well as not feeling the need to have any of my photography gear with me to complicate my travels or find more work while on the road. In a way, I think I really needed those months to fully step away and disconnect, otherwise I would have been tempted to continue responding out of kindness and loyalty.
It was freeing, and definitely gave me more headspace, but how I spent that headspace was truly just enjoying each moment as it unfolded, rather than planning for what would be next. I learned that I need more stillness to create what's next because travel and adventure keeps me focused on just what is right in front of me at that moment, rather than giving me the stillness I need to plan ahead.
So what did I actually accomplish in 6 months after announcing retirement?
1. Stopped taking on new photography clients.
2. Finished up photography projects that loyal recurring clients were counting on me for so they had more time to plan and try out other replacement solutions on a longer timeline (there are still just a couple left this second half of the year.)
3. Shipped out as many of my printed sample products as possible to clients who were featured in the samples. This actually went much smoother than I thought it would, and most wedding and portrait clients were happy to cover shipping costs. There were a few times when checking back in with former clients that I learned of tragic events or separations, and those were hard to check in on, but I tried to get as many products as possible out of storage and into the hands of former clients.
4. Decided to keep the photography equipment assets to continue to be sure I don't want to use them for personal projects or other random things. The value declines every few months, so eventually they are actually worth more to keep than to sell. If I wanted the money out of it all, I'd sell it all and get what I could from it, but obviously that doesn't matter as much to me as the creative freedom of keeping it.
5. Traveled a whole lot, and I still have some more travel ahead.
6. Freed myself from my inbox by essentially letting one inbox get so full it would bounce back emails, and putting a long vacation announcement on the other. This is so different from those years when I was completely addicted to my inbox... I never thought there would be a day I could just walk away from my inbox. Clients who still wanted to reach me basically needed to reach me on Facebook, Instagram, or by Text Message- which they already had access to and had already used to reach me at some point anyway.
Things I still wrestle with 9 months out....
How much longer do I want to keep my website and work out there while I'm not taking new clients?
What is "AnneRuthmann.com" if it is not a professional photography portfolio?
When I announced the changes in my photography business last year, I had that very optimistic outlook about how much time I'll have "after I retire" to think about everything else I've been wanting to do and create, but the reality has taken much more time to get to a place of being able to think about anything else.
The first 4 months after my announcement were spent finishing projects that were still immediately on the table, as well as a few more projects clients wanted me to take care of before I completely unplugged and spent the summer traveling. It turns out that wrapping up a photography business and pulling back from awesomely loyal clients takes almost as much headspace, time, and expense as keeping the business going. I should have known this based on the other businesses I've helped close or transfer, but of course it's always different when you're in the middle of doing the work.
The second 4 months were pretty splendid and blissful, traveling city to city and country to country, while allowing myself to be completely disconnected from email, or managing client needs, or customer service, or responding to bid requests, or following up with new leads, as well as not feeling the need to have any of my photography gear with me to complicate my travels or find more work while on the road. In a way, I think I really needed those months to fully step away and disconnect, otherwise I would have been tempted to continue responding out of kindness and loyalty.
It was freeing, and definitely gave me more headspace, but how I spent that headspace was truly just enjoying each moment as it unfolded, rather than planning for what would be next. I learned that I need more stillness to create what's next because travel and adventure keeps me focused on just what is right in front of me at that moment, rather than giving me the stillness I need to plan ahead.
So what did I actually accomplish in 6 months after announcing retirement?
1. Stopped taking on new photography clients.
2. Finished up photography projects that loyal recurring clients were counting on me for so they had more time to plan and try out other replacement solutions on a longer timeline (there are still just a couple left this second half of the year.)
3. Shipped out as many of my printed sample products as possible to clients who were featured in the samples. This actually went much smoother than I thought it would, and most wedding and portrait clients were happy to cover shipping costs. There were a few times when checking back in with former clients that I learned of tragic events or separations, and those were hard to check in on, but I tried to get as many products as possible out of storage and into the hands of former clients.
4. Decided to keep the photography equipment assets to continue to be sure I don't want to use them for personal projects or other random things. The value declines every few months, so eventually they are actually worth more to keep than to sell. If I wanted the money out of it all, I'd sell it all and get what I could from it, but obviously that doesn't matter as much to me as the creative freedom of keeping it.
5. Traveled a whole lot, and I still have some more travel ahead.
6. Freed myself from my inbox by essentially letting one inbox get so full it would bounce back emails, and putting a long vacation announcement on the other. This is so different from those years when I was completely addicted to my inbox... I never thought there would be a day I could just walk away from my inbox. Clients who still wanted to reach me basically needed to reach me on Facebook, Instagram, or by Text Message- which they already had access to and had already used to reach me at some point anyway.
Things I still wrestle with 9 months out....
How much longer do I want to keep my website and work out there while I'm not taking new clients?
- On one hand, the website continues to represent my work and experience as a photographer as well as a copyright holder in order to defend any copyright issues for myself or my clients.
- On the other hand, it also creates the impression that I might still be taking clients, and online high resolution storage is a recurring expense that continues to be billed to a closed business.
- Ultimately, I may still keep a portfolio out there of some kind featuring my work, but more as a creative archive and copyright placeholder rather than as someone seeking new clients, so I'm still figuring out exactly what to do with my copyright archives.
What is "AnneRuthmann.com" if it is not a professional photography portfolio?
- Considering the hundreds of links already out there online pointing to "AnneRuthmann.com" were pointing to a photographer's website, do I want to continue directing traffic to a gallery that makes it appear like I'm still an active photographer?
- Do I want to reuse anneruthmann.com for anything else after it has been so established online as a photographer's website?
- After my announcement, I decided to point the domain to my "Changes at Anne Ruthmann Photography" blog post, since that would be the most practical way to tell people what's going on, but as time goes on and I debate whether I want to reclaim my domain name for anything else, I still wrestle with exactly where that domain should go and what the consequences are with google when it comes to pointing it in other directions. I keep playing with it to see what happens regarding traffic.
Accounting & Taxes
- I'm not really wrestling with this, it's just a reality of closing out a business, but it obviously has to continue through the next fiscal cycle in order to be fully accounted for whether you're selling the business to someone else or just closing it down for yourself.
What I'm excited about now...
I feel like I've only just started having time to scratch the surface of what's next for me and how I can help more people. I have two books that are rattling around in my head right now and each day I plug away bit by bit at the content, outlines, and writing for both of them. I go between just launching them as books or turning them into workshops to edit and refine first. For one, it may be better to launch as a book, and for the other it may be a launch as a workshop. We'll see, as the process continues to unfold the more I work on it. I just have to keep plugging away and creating what I need to create based on all the rich experiences I've had so far.
I'm spending more time doing reiki energy healing work, both in person and at distance, which feels so aligned and uses all of my very unique body sensitivities and ways of perceiving unseen things. I even did a couple sessions while I was traveling - and I was grateful I could serve in that way when people were in need.
I'm also spending more time doing consulting work for creatives who want to achieve more freedom and flow in their business. After creating so much freedom for myself in my business in the last half of my self-employment career, I feel like the only way to truly honor all of that learning and experience is to share it with others to help make their path easier in a much faster way than mine was! I still look back at what I built, and how easy I made it, and have those moments of thinking "Why couldn't I just keep doing that?!" - but I know why- because I love a challenge, and when I no longer have challenges, I need more. Now it's much more fun figuring out how to help other people finely tune and optimize their flow!
I'm spending more time doing reiki energy healing work, both in person and at distance, which feels so aligned and uses all of my very unique body sensitivities and ways of perceiving unseen things. I even did a couple sessions while I was traveling - and I was grateful I could serve in that way when people were in need.
I'm also spending more time doing consulting work for creatives who want to achieve more freedom and flow in their business. After creating so much freedom for myself in my business in the last half of my self-employment career, I feel like the only way to truly honor all of that learning and experience is to share it with others to help make their path easier in a much faster way than mine was! I still look back at what I built, and how easy I made it, and have those moments of thinking "Why couldn't I just keep doing that?!" - but I know why- because I love a challenge, and when I no longer have challenges, I need more. Now it's much more fun figuring out how to help other people finely tune and optimize their flow!
If you follow me in all the usual social media places, you'll probably see me trying a few different things, asking for people who want to test some things, and throwing a few offers or polls out there to get some feedback and direction as I create new things. I've learned that I work better in zig zags rather than straight lines. It almost seems important that I work on two projects at once rather than just one, so that I can switch to another productive thing when I feel stuck or stagnant on one. It also seems that documenting this process in various ways has become equally important for me to move forward as well, so you'll likely have more to read from me as I work through it all.
Thanks for joining me for the journey! If you have any cautionary tales or suggestions about the whole "AnneRuthmann.com" domain thing - please do share!
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