This week I’ve been thinking about advertising. That is, advertising for my interior design business - Hannah Ashe Interior Design.
Until last year I’d never had a business. I’d always been employed in a stable, steady job with holiday pay and pensions. I grew up in a household where that was the norm and what we strived for - to get a ‘good job’ and be secure.
That all made a lot of sense to me up until about 18 months ago when I began to crave something more; a career where I was in the driving seat, both in terms of what I was working on and when I was doing it.
Fast-forward to today, and I am part way towards that goal. I now have half a stable job in the form of a part-time teaching position. The rest of my time is my own and during it I am working hard on building an interior design business and relishing the freedom and the wide-open sense of possibility and opportunity it is presenting.
As I scrawl the beginnings of this piece down in my notebook, I am on a train en route to a photography shoot to update my brand photos. It was only a year ago that I first had some photos taken, so there’s an argument to say that I don’t need more right now. However, last year when I had these photos taken, aside from the obvious reasons for getting them - i.e. to go on my website, socials etc. - it felt like an awakening of sorts.
Looking at photos of yourself is hard. Most of us have hang ups about our bodies and appearance and seeing those as photographic evidence isn’t easy. At the time, I thought I was simply getting some photos taken, but in reality these photos have signified a kind of acceptance of myself. When I first received them back in May last year, there were some that I was immediately drawn to and loved, and others that I hated (not because they were bad photos, just because I didn’t like myself in them). I was thinking things like my stomach looks huge or I’ve got so many wrinkles on my forehead.