Two weeks ago, Caleb was at drill for the weekend, so it was just me and the kids for a few days. Sometimes during these times, it’s a challenge because there are three of them and one of me…and somehow everyone needs something at once (including myself).

As I was putting Emerson, our youngest son, down for a mid-morning nap, Huxley came into the room and asked if she could get a knife to cut herself some strawberries for a snack. I told her calmly, but sternly, No, you cannot have a knife. She’s four, for goodness sake. She can’t have a knife while unattended. Naturally, the next question out of her cute, sassy, little mouth was the epitome of toddlerhood: WHY?

I was tired, frustrated, the baby was waking up and my hard work was just going down the drain, so I just defaulted to Because I said so.

Lo and behold, that was not enough of a reason for her inquiring mind to understand. So she adamantly stood in front of me, while I was on the verge of tears and demanded, Tell me the why!

Although I like to think I explained calmly that I know she is responsible, but no one cuts themselves with a knife on purpose and I was scared she was going to do it by accident and to just please wait until I am done putting Emerson to sleep so I can come help her…I don’t think I was very calm. I was stressed because I was being pressed for a logical, thoughtful answer while I had a more pressing, immediate task in front of me, which was to get the baby to sleep.

The end of the story goes like this: a frustrated four-year-old slammed the door and stomped away; eventually, I got the baby to sleep and got said four-year-old a knife to watch her responsibly cut her strawberries.

But after I had some time to reflect, I wondered how many times I default to the JUST BECAUSE answer in my life and I realized…it’s fairly often.

Now I know you’re probably like where in the world are you going with this, Ali?

Well, when I started The Photography Framework, I made it its own brand. Why? Just because. Perhaps I had a *bit* more thought in the decision, like I really wanted to differentiate the audiences of who I was speaking to. The Photography Framework is aimed toward beginning and aspiring photographers. Ali Rae Haney is a wedding photography business, which gears its posts towards engaged couples. Both of those are two very different audiences, and I thought my message would get confusing.

But passed that explanation, I did not truly tell myself the why because I had a more pressing task in front of me, which was to get The Photography Framework off the ground and running.

So often, business decisions are made while on auto-pilot…because we have the day-to-day tasks to address immediately, rather than putting in the hard thought into the decisions that can pave the way for the future.

With that being said, I have recently taken some time to think very thoroughly through the relationship between The Photography Framework, Ali Rae Haney Photography, and any future off shoots of business that I decide to start under the Ali Rae Haney brand.

I’m not ready to give up The Photography Framework just yet because I truly feel like it has value for beginning and aspiring photographers. So I still plan on producing content for it, but it will now be combined with the Ali Rae Haney Photography blog.

Why?

Because while the audiences are different, with some concerted effort, I am still able to segment the website, the blog, and social media to speak to two separate audiences. That makes my job as a service provider and content creator much easier, and therefore, makes me able to serve my clients even better.

In the future, I will catch you over at the Ali Rae Haney website.

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