My Why: and Why it Has Changed
When you launch a business and start looking for new clients, one of the most common pieces of advice people share is to know your “why.” That way, when you talk to prospective clients, your passion comes through authentically.
Where My Why Began
When I first launched, my dad had just passed away. He was my biggest cheerleader and the one who had always wanted me to start my own business. He was definitely my why. I wanted to preserve his memories, his stories, and his spirit.
I also wanted to honor his dream for me to be my own boss (although, in his version, I was a contractor, not a photo manager!).
But now, almost ten years in, my “why” has shifted.
1 of 15 pictures I have from the 70’s
I have very few photos from my own childhood to share with my kids.
The Photo Manager With Very Few Photos
After helping so many families organize, preserve, and celebrate their stories, I’ve become keenly aware of something missing in my own life: I have very few photos from my own childhood.
The old saying “the cobbler’s children have no shoes” applies here. Except it’s not the cobbler’s children, it’s the cobbler… or, the photo manager who has no photos.
These are most of our family’s books. Documenting the year and special occasions for our family is a top priority.
For reasons I can’t control, I may never have access to those early family memories. And while that still stings, it’s also what fuels me to make sure my own children never feel that same gap, sadness or disappointment.
We’ve recently been organizing my father-in-law’s boxes of photos and looking at pictures from my husband’s childhood. The kids giggle at his hairstyles, clothes, and those wonderfully thick glasses from the ’80s. Those moments are fun, effortless, and full of laughter. And they remind me of the joy that well-preserved memories can bring.
Documenting My Children’s Memories - With Intention
So every year, I curate our best family photos and create a yearly photo book. I design it using program-independent software so we have both printed copies and digital backups as individual JPGs and PDFs. These books are our family’s story, preserved in a way that is both enjoyable and accessible.
And, on my ever-growing to-do list: Build a family website where these photos can live forever, creating “specialty albums” that capture milestones, trips, and memories that deserve their own spotlight, and stay current on new photos coming in. Definitely not a small undertaking while juggling the business, the household and managing two teens schedules.
Yes, I do this for myself. Because I love the trips down memory lane. But more importantly, I do it for them and their future families.
In thirty years, when my kids have families of their own and their children ask, “What was Mom like growing up? What did her school look like? Who was her dog?” - They’ll have those answers, and, be able to pick up a book or drop into a web-gallery to take that trip down memory lane. Because they’ll have the photos, they’ll have the stories, and they’ll have the memories.
That’s the legacy I want to leave them. And the fact that I don’t have that history myself… is exactly why I’m doing this for them.
What about you? Are you missing photos from your own childhood? I’d love to hear how you’re keeping your family memories alive.
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