A peek at motherhood: Rebekah Westover amazing Wedding Photographer!

I am so happy to share with you a peek at motherhood featuring the inspiring Rebekah Westover.  She is mom to two beautiful children Violet and Rockwell, all while running her successful wedding photography business for the past 9 years.  She credits her success to her very supportive husband who has always encouraged her to follow her dreams.  In a matter of minutes she has inspired me to know what little changes I can make to run my own business better..believe me she will inspire you too!    We had the opportunity to capture the sweet relationship she has with her two cuties at our photo shoot last week with Tea Collection. Heather Telford did an excellent job in capturing this for all of us, heather often travels make sure you connect with her as she may be in your area soon!

 

 

It really was a treat to get to know Rebekah better, she is the type of girl you want to hang out with so uplifting and positive, and so real! Here is a peek into what makes her so great!

As a wife and mother to two darling littles and a successful wedding photography business you are clearly one busy lady…please share with us your tips for making it all work seamlessly together? 

 

I would love to say it all works out “seamlessly” all the time, but it doesn’t always go that way.  I could go on and on about my failures and mistakes I’ve made personally and professionally, but I want to focus on the positive things I’ve learned along the way.  For me the biggest change I’ve made this year was to stop multitasking. I used to put a lot of demands on myself each day and tried to accomplish too many things in a short amount of time.  This was only a recipe for disaster and further made me get down about myself and my abilities to be a “superwoman”.  This year  I have created a strict schedule for my business that I’ve adhered to religiously . It has helped me be more organized, more efficient, and more at peace.  A short description of this is as follows: Each day I have one or two business tasks that NEED to be done that day.  Any other tasks will be done on another day when time has been made for those tasks.  When my key tasks are done for the day, then I am DONE with work. No more checking emails, no more “only one more print order for the day…” When my tasks are done, I am done!  You can read a bit more about my transition to this new system here:  Just look at the highlighted post that says MULTI-TASKING.

The best part about my new system of working is that I am working LESS and yet I am more efficient.  I have more free time and more peace in my life.  Also I have included a FAMILY NIGHT and a DATE NIGHT in my task list.  I hate to call these “tasks” as I consider these a joy in my life.  But I realized I had to schedule these things or I would let them slide.

This really is not a mind-blowing approach to running a business, but it truly has helped me immensely.

 

 

As women we are constantly juggling so many things and lately I don’t know about you but it seems like life is just a bit overwhelming…have you ever felt like this… if so how do you cope with it?

Again, I could go ON and ON about the times I have felt so overwhelmed I have cried, sobbed, or wanted to quit everything and crawl in a hole.  BUT I choose to focus on the positive things I’ve learned along the way.  For me, being organized is KEY to not feeling overwhelmed.  I am an artistic right-brained person….so sometimes organization is really difficult for me.  But if I let my desk get messy, my work area get messy, my business get messy then I find my mind and soul drowning in the yucky sea of OVERWHELMED.  Get organized.  Make lists. Don’t try to do everything in one day.  Don’t multitask.  Start something, then FINISH it before you move on to something else. You can read more about her office makeover/reorganization project here: on Rebekah’s blog.

Aside from being organized I find it important to have “quiet time” to myself EVERY DAY!  This energizes me and yet calms me at the same time.  I practice deep breathing, meditation, and I am an avid user of essential oils.  Breathing pure lavender oil calms me almost instantly. I also focus REALLY hard on using my quiet time to think about things other than WORK!  When you own a business, and are dependent on it for your living, you think about it too much.  In my “quiet time” I like to focus on things completely unrelated to my business.

 

Violet is wearing a  Tea Collection dress, and Salt Water Sandals,  and Rockwell is wearing  Tea Collection clothing,  Taylor Joelle Designs Tie, and See Kai Run shoes.

 

Finsh this sentence….If I had the opportunity to change the world I would……?

Raise kind and caring children, recycle, always be learning, encourage careers in the arts, have an open mind, smile at strangers, deliver cookies to my neighbors, hug my kids every day, read philosophy books, be authentic, plant a garden, create beautiful and meaningful photographs,….I am a small person, in a big world, but by small things I can make the world a tiny bit better.

 

Please share with us a few of your business success tips….DO’s and Don’ts maybe some things you have learned that you would advise other business/photographers  to do maybe?

-Do shoot what you love.

-Don’t copy other photographer’s style.  Create your own style.

-Do shoot a LOT!  There is no fast track to becoming a good photographer.  It takes TIME and lots of it!

-Do get organized.

-Don’t multitask. Trust me, I did it for 8 years and its no bueno….

 

What are three things we may not know about you?

1. I met my husband when I was 8 years old. He grew up down the street from me.  He used to lock me in my playroom, draw skeletons on my playroom walls, and tickle me until I cried.  Needless to say, it was NOT love at first sight. Ha!

 

2. When pregnant with my first child I saw the movie “Lemony Snicket’s: A Series of Unfortunate Events”.  The main character’s name was “Violet.” It was the prettiest name I had ever heard.  I named my baby Violet when she was born.

 

3. In high school I drove a 1987 cherry red Chrysler 5^th avenue.  It was a hideous grandpa car, yet I cherished that car and would proudly drive that baby anywhere!

 

You are a young mother…What are some of your other goals and  dreams or ideas you would like to still accomplish in your life?

My most immediate goal that I want to happen in the next 5 years is to live abroad with my family in France for a year. I’d love to create a blog about my adventures living abroad.  It would focus on food, architecture, daily living, and of course it would have lots and lots of beautiful photos!!

Thank you Rebekah! I love your business philosophy on multi-tasking as well as how you keep from getting overwhelmed.  You are so darling and so inspiring I look forward to seeing your adventures in France!  To see more of Rebekah and her amazing work…

Be sure to check out Rebekah Westover Photography

Its our last day for our awesome give away with Tea Collection, A little lady Shop and Taylor Joelle Designs go ENTER it HERE NOW….