Hello friends, I have some great news! I have finally officially immigrated to the UK!!
My husband and I left Amsterdam nearly a year ago now, and this entire time I have had a pending immigration status. The whole process was stressful and tedious, but last week I finally received my residence permit in the mail! You can hear more details about my immigration journey in my latest YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/5sBDpP7BJOc
Now that I have immigrated and have the right to work, I can finally restart my portrait business! I love my work, and have missed it severely while I was forced to put it on hold. I now have the exciting, and admittedly, daunting task, of starting my business from scratch in our new area.
I won't lie, it's intimidating to start over. I have no clients, no reputation within the community, and no experience with the British market. But I've always tried to face my fears head-on, and fortunately, I'm coming in with some experience. I have already started a business in the US and in the Netherlands, so I have a pretty good idea of what it takes to get started.
That doesn't mean that I think it will be easy. I know that this is going to be difficult, and that I will need to remain patient and steadfast as I get the ball rolling. I already have experience and confidence in my actual craft, which is a huge reassurance as I prepare to put myself out there and start marketing. The part I am most nervous about is building up a clientele again. This is the hardest part when starting over. Even though I love talking and working with people, I can still get nervous when it comes to putting myself and my work out there. I'm telling myself that I've only failed when I've stopped trying. I don't expect things to take off overnight, and as long as I keep going, I know that I will get there eventually.
If you're a potential client reading this, hire me now! Hehe! Just joking, only hire me if you want to of course ;)
I will be documenting the process of restarting my business over on YouTube, so make sure you're subscribed over there so you don't miss any of the juicy details!