small business owner

In todays world of glorified entrepreneurs, small business owners and collaborative work spaces, secret sauce is no longer just the hushed, untold ingredients Aunt Marge puts in her spaghetti, but its the question that keeps us, entrepreneurs, up at night and gets us out of bed early. What makes me different? What makes my company, my business, my brand, unique… What makes my clients connect with me? And what exactly is my secret sauce?

This question, this quest to find my secret sauce has been weighing on my mind a lot lately. Here I am, a 20something year old woman who loves her work, her clients and the energy that photography brings to the world. All I want to do is reach more people, photograph more beautiful events and help others document the most cherished moments of their lives. All I want is to capture emotion and love; but what is my secret sauce? What makes me the person who should do it? What makes me stand out and how, exactly do I figure what my thing is?

For weeks, months, even years, I have been trying to find the secret ingredient to the YPP’s Secret Sauce. I have asked my friends, gone on retreats, listened to seminars, read book after book, and I still cannot pinpoint what exactly it is that makes my brand unique. I couldn’t even begin to count the amount of times I have asked Robert to describe the YPP brand in three words or the amount of times I have texted Danielle with my latest perfect tagline.

As small business owners, we expect ourselves to have all the answers. I mean, it’s our own business right? We should know what’s best. But let me fill you in on a little secret… it doesn’t come easy. We spend hours upon hours researching, we seek out advice, we enlist our friends for help and we even figure out what we need to outsource. In the end of the day, owning a small business is an endless cycle of trial and error.

Today, as I was sitting in a seminar, listening to fellow entrepreneurs talk about their inspiring ventures, the question was asked… “So, Amy, what exactly is your secret sauce?” That’s when it hit me… Like all good recipes, you can’t rush it. You can’t force it. You have to keep trying different things, mixing in different ingredients and eventually, you will figure it out. Eventually, it will feel like you just stumbled upon gold. Eventually you will find the secret ingredient to your very, very secret sauce.

Happy searching my friends!

Robert looked confused… He was sitting across from me at Gryphon Coffee when I opened this fancy box and pulled out a pair of beautiful pink wide framed glasses.

“Why do you have glasses?!” he asked. I smiled and slid them on to my face.

“How do I look!?” I responded as I posed across from him.

At six years old, all I wanted to do was be just like my big sister in every way. So, when my mom brought her home a pair of glasses, wearing glasses became a dream of mine… at six year old. A decade later, it was my biggest fear, and now another 10 years later, I am waiting for the day my eyesight gets fuzzy and I’m going to take the plunge and buy myself a pair of real glasses.

As a photographer, I log more hours behind screens than I care to admit. I’m either sitting behind my computer, trying not to slouch, smiling as I stare at my phone responding to Instagram comments or even looking at the preview screen on the back of my camera… I am always behind screens and I am horrified to think of what the blue light is doing to my eyes and should I mention how it’s affecting my sleep!?

That’s why, when I stumbled upon Klassy Glasses, anti-blue light lenses, I was totally sold. I mean, I’m not one to impulsively buy, but when I clicked the Klassy link, I couldn’t get to the checkout page soon enough. I literally could not resist. Being a photographer, and a human, my eyes are pretty damn important and I want to do everything I can to keep from harming them.

Five days later they arrived and I was giddier than a school girl eating an ice cream cone. I love my Klassy glasses, they work like a charm. They work so well that you can 100% see the color temperature change when you look at your computer and phone. The screens are just warmer. Your eyes are less strained and you can stare at a screen way longer with Klassy Glasses on. For most humans, this is amazing, for a photographer who is constantly adjusting the color temperature of her photos, not so ideal.

On the YPP Scale of Awesomeness, I would give Klassy Glasses a 7 out of 10. They are effective, helpful, relatively well priced and adorably stylish. The only issue is that I can’t use them for the bulk of my screen work, processing photos. And let’s be real, I spend a ton of time processing photos!

For now, my Klassy glasses will always be with me, I will wear them proudly as I blog, respond to emails, post and work on my invoices. Yet, as soon as the photo processing begins, those bad boys are coming off. Because, as I say, “anything for the photo!”

Guys, I am lucky. As a small business owner, I don’t have the normal 9 – 5 schedule. I don’t have to be in a certain place for 40 hours a week. I don’t have to count my vacation days or call in when I’m sick. It is up to me to fit it all in, stay on task and never miss a deadline.

I like to consider my schedule flexible, yet consistent. That is why, all winter long, I had strived to get to City Fitness six times a week and always in the morning. It was great! I never had to wait for a bench. My favorite cardio machines were always available and all the dead lifting platforms were free. The gym was essentially empty, mine and one of my favorite places to be!

But winter has come and gone, the weather is nicer and the outdoor photography sessions are being booked one on top of the other! Being busy with what you love is the goal isn’t it?! It is a beautiful thing and I wouldn’t want it any other way!

So, when I found myself at the gym at 6:30pm, I was shocked. It was buzzing with people. As I waited my turn to use the Smith Machine, I didn’t let it frustrate me, (even though I am Type A through and through)! I actually took it as a win! I had spent that entire morning outside taking photos in the best city with the best clients! My afternoon was filled with coffee consultations and phone check-ins. If waiting for a machine at the gym was the worst thing of the day, I am insanely lucky. As I sat down on the Lateral Pull bench to work in an extra set or two, I kept my eyes on the Smith Machine and smiled.

Always keep your eyes on the prize. Never give up your goals. Go after your dreams and do it all!

With my photo gear rolling behind me and my coat unzipped, I take a deep breath in, it’s finally not insanely cold outside. Coming from me, that is no small feat. I hear a bird chirping from afar and I feel the sun shining strong above me. I smile. With the clocks moving an hour earlier this past weekend and with the fresh smell in the air, spring has almost sprung and it is a marvelous feeling!

Don’t get me wrong, I have thoroughly enjoyed the winter. It gave me a chance to reorganize, plan like no other, learn hard, network harder and meet the amazing couples I will be photographing this wedding season! And don’t even get me started on all the fun Robert and I have had! With all that being said, I am insanely excited for the change of season.

It means a lot more to me than simply the luxury of going outside without ten layers on or not needing to crank up the heat as soon as Robert walks in the door. It means that I made it. That Yael Pachino Photography had made it. I made it through the off season and business is still kicking. It means that bad weather and less outdoor sessions hasn’t knocked me down. It means that for the first time ever, Yael Pachino Photography made it from December to March without a supplementary income and I could not be happier. I thank god every day for the amazing companies and small businesses who had employed me over the years. Without part time jobs and the help of the wonderful community I have established here in Philadelphia, I could not be here. I could not have reached a point in my own business that allows me to put 150% of my time and effort into loving my clients, cherishing my product and growing my business.

Growing up, I always pictured myself having a steady 9-5 job. I wanted the stability. I wanted the protection. But as spring begins, I get to take a look at my life and I have never been so thankful that I didn’t fall into that lifestyle. I took a chance on myself and on what I love to do and I wouldn’t have it any other way. To be totally honest, I still day dream of having a 401K, pension and someone else to pay for my health insurance, that will never change, but nothing can replace the happiness, the fulfillment and the people that I get to surround myself with every day.

So, as I put my camera gear in the trunk of my car, hop in the front seat and get ready to head to the first wedding of the year, I turn the radio on loud and sing on the top of my lungs. Today, is a good day.

Photo credit: Rachel Abramowitz

This Monday I did something I never thought I would ever do… I was a guest on a podcast called “Nothing Nice to Say!”

There I was, sitting across from a video camera with a podcast host on each side of me. I was wearing headphones that were a constant reminder of how high pitched my voice truly is and I was trying my best not to kick the microphone stand with my fidgety feet. I had no idea what to expect but was so insanely excited that I felt my entire face smiling from ear to ear.

Thirty minutes later…

I was having a blast! Chatting about my business, my legendary High School Jewish Basketball days and asking as many questions as possible. Suddenly, I hear. “What do you think about Millennials?” At first, I didn’t realize who they were directing the question to but as I looked around, all eyes were on me. That’s when it hit me…I was the only millennial in the room.

As a creative, small business owner and Jewish, female, entrepreneur, the last thing I really think about is classifying myself as the generation I was in born into. But, I am part of a generation. I am part of the  Generation Y, Digital Natives, Generation Me, Generation Rent and Echo Boomers, Millennial generation (or whatever other name you want to use to describe us). We are the most researched and discussed generation known to date. We are the largest part of the Western work force and the most educated Western generation. Yet, for some reason, there is this negative connotation to the term “Millennial.”

If you ask me, being a Millennial is freaken awesome!

Being a Millennial has given me the confidence and the determination to go after my dreams. It has made me strive to be the best version of myself and to be true to who I am. It has forced me to be open minded, accepting, flexible and socially conscious. It has given me the characteristics that has allowed me to start a business and not settle for the typical 9-5 job. It has made me into a passionate hustler who wakes up every day even more excited than the last. I am mission based. I am fiery. I am focused.

As a generation, we care more about authenticity and less about playing the game. We want positive, genuine experiences instead of flashy, material possessions.  We want to grow, we want to be engaged and we want to do well. We want feedback so we can continue to grow, continue to be engaged and continue to do well.

We support brands that have deeper meaning and strong backbones. We want the shoes that we buy to send a matching pair to kids in third world countries. We want to know that the drinking straws we use are both saving the world and protecting our teeth enamel. We want to know that the products we buy are defending human rights and are against animal cruelty. We are a generation that loves our pets more than anything and 61% of us feel that it is up to us to make this world a better place even though we know it isn’t going to be easy.

So, to answer the question “How do I feel about Millennials?” Well, we live in a world that is very different than the one of our parents and grandparents. We live in a world where many of us are dealing with soul crushing student loans, a world that doesn’t have pretty pensions waiting for us and a social security system that might run out by the time we get to it, but we work hard, play hard and care hard. We are community oriented. We think globally instead of locally. We might still be living in our parents basements, but we are progressive, challenging and zealous. We don’t have all the answers, but we definitely try to make this world a better, more accepting place for the future. So I ask you this… what else could you really ask for?