Year End Review and New Year Look Ahead
Another 365 days have passed. Time for another year end review to new year look ahead, and boy howdy is there a lot to review and look forward to. Not only that, but this is also my 50th blog post on the Piece of Harmony Events website!! Honestly, most of us are still processing 2020, but somehow, we are already 7 days into 2022. This last year was filled with a lot of mixed emotions… love, hopefulness, adrenaline, and burnout. With all these feelings one thing is for certain – the world will always keep turning and life will keep moving forward.
Overall, 2021 was a very positive year for the Schatz family. We welcomed our sweet Audrey Rae just 6 days before Christmas of 2020, so we were still riding that baby high well into the start of 2021… seriously, Chris took 3 months of paternity leave and spent most of it riding his snowmobile, so he was living his best life! Meanwhile at home, I was adjusting not only becoming a new mom, but also to being a “work from home” mom. Gearing up for a huge wedding season, still in the midst of a pandemic, all while caring for a newborn was tough, but I wouldn’t trade my experience for the world! I don’t know that I took much of a maternity leave considering I was having Zoom meetings 2 weeks after Audrey was born, but I also don’t thrive in an environment where I am told to simply sit on the couch and do nothing (whoops).
Luckily, the bulk of A Piece of Harmony Event’s wedding/event season didn’t take off until the end of April, so although I don’t feel like I truly took “time off” for the baby I also wasn’t having to dress in much else other than yoga pants and a sweatshirt most days. However, once we hit late spring/early summer all gears shifted quickly into turbo, and I don’t think I took a breath of fresh air until November 1st. I know most (if not all) vendors in the event industry know what I am talking about! And a lot of photographers still haven’t had that chance to breathe yet. I feel extremely blessed to have been part of so many amazing celebrations this past year, but I also don’t want to pretend like burnout isn’t a real thing. I am sure you have heard that word this year more than you have any other year, but when you are a company of one who puts so much heart and soul into your business it is hard not to come crashing down after a 6-8 month high.
Between postponements from 2020, events that were already scheduled for 2021, and clients who were trying to “get ahead of the game” and plan events for 2022, I think for a lot of business owners it all just became so overwhelming! For much of the industry, social media became a true necessary evil with long breaks between posts, the “do not disturb” button on peoples’ phones started to get worn out, and emails started going 3, 4, 5 days without being answered. We started seeing Instagram posts all about “giving grace” because most of the time these businesses are owned and operated by one person and one person can only handle so much while still balancing their home life. As a whole, and speaking only for myself, I am relatively happy and proud with how I handled the hustle and bustle of this past year. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely felt that I needed a break by the end of October, but I also knew I didn’t want to take on as much as I had in past seasons (2020 excluded) because it was important for me to be present with Audrey during her first summer. I believe I achieved that busy workload without feeling like I was slowly getting pushed off a cliff, so this next year I feel comfortable saying that I will be able to extend that load by just a little bit.
Now that Audrey is getting older and wants everyone to actually physically play with her, balancing those daytime work hours between having to have a daytime home life has gotten exceedingly harder, but I have an amazing village of people who continue to support me and make it so I can grow my business. I don’t know what I would do without them! But also, don’t be surprised when you get an email from me at 8:30 in the evening because the baby has gone to bed, and I can finally spend some time on the computer without little hands reaching around to press keys that don’t form real words. If you are a mom who works from home, no matter what industry, I am sure you understand that work hour struggle.
Looking into 2022 I am beyond excited to see what this year holds for my business and our family! The event calendar only has a few prime weekend dates left up for grabs, I have a couple of amazing assistants helping me this year, and we already have a few awesome trips planned! So far Audrey has been a great little traveler and I hope it stays that way because we want to show her all the wonders our world has to offer. To all my wonderful couples and clients – let’s celebrate the heck out of you this year!
I hope everyone is able to get the rest and refresh you earned and deserve. And when it comes to that time again, I hope you all will be ready with me to shift back into turbo and ride another busy event season high!
If you found this article enticing and want to chat further (whether that is about your upcoming wedding/event or just life in general), head on over to the services page for my packages and pricing information. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or leave a comment below!