At the end of 2018, Katelyn James released her newest educational resource –– The KJ Business Journey. She invited 700+ students to join her for a year’s worth of content (yes, 12 whole months!!!). We would be the first to have access to this content that she never taught before, focused solely on growing and improving our businesses.

I was just coming off of the excitement of attending her last in-person workshop and had a loooong list of things I still needed to implement. While some of the content looked similar to what was discussed in the workshop, I thought it would be such a good way to actually implement it if I could go through it again, but slower.

So each month we got 3-4 new videos on topics ranging from the wedding experience, to protecting ourselves legally, to technical branding, to protecting our purpose. We had our own private Facebook group where she would host 2-3 Facebook lives every month, which were definitely my favorite part!!! I loved being able to learn from her in another casual setting, ask questions, and see what everyone else was doing.

There was SO MUCH to do after each month, I honestly may spend a lot of 2020 going back through it all! I am really grateful for my workshop experience (obviously hanging out with Katelyn in person tops just about anything!!) but this was an even more beneficial learning process because I had time to create plans and actually implement them.

For the last month, Katelyn chose to deliver our module IN PERSON! We were all freaking out, and truthfully this event was a huge reason I signed up for the journey. It was one of the best days of the entire year. 

I love any chance I get to see and hug Katelyn and also interact with all of my photography friends. We had a whole group of us from our workshop go and it was SO sweet to spend time with them and hear all of the progress we’ve made from crying and laughing in Katelyn’s living room, ha!

My biggest moment was getting to talk to Katelyn after the event, when she quite literally made time to huge ALL 400 PEOPLE who showed up to see her. Talk about freaking loving your community!!!

Even though I really only got about 30 second with her (gotta make time for everyone!!), I told her that I matched my salary from my agency job after quitting and going full time. I made the decision to pursue my business full time after going to her workshop and feeling at a crossroads. She celebrated with me and gave me a huge hug, and I can’t explain what it felt like to tell my biggest mentor and hero that I am successfully chasing my dreams. AHHH!!!!

I can’t express enough how important it is to include some kind of live networking/in-person event in your schedule if you are self-employed or a solo-prenuer. I am always so refreshed and energized after being about a community of people who understand what my life looks like. We don’t get that in an office so we have to get it somewhere!!

Before I knew we were getting our own KJBJ notebooks I actually brought my own notebook because I like to handwrite notes during events and it was so on brand, haha!!

Katelyn’s husband and business partner Michael did the SWEETEST introduction! We were all just as excited to him too! He is such a huge part of all of our successes too and has the biggest heart for both his family and the people around him.

There she is!!!

At the end of the event, the entire Katelyn James team came on stage, including the littles, who we were so excited to see!!

This was me telling Katelyn about all of the progress I’ve made since her workshop at the end of 2018. I was freaking out, and she was freaking out with me!! I am so incredibly thankful for her!

Next stop: me getting married and making sure nothing gets in the way of her being MY wedding photographer!!

We wrapped up the trip with the October 2018 Workshop girls!! It was so good seeing them and hearing about all of the things they are doing in their businesses! We need people that we can fully lean on and support in this crazy world of ours.

Overall, it was a fantastic quick trip to finish off the year. If you are a photographer and are interested in learning from Katelyn yourself, you can access all of her educational resources here! If you have questions about any of them, I’ve literally taken everything she’s ever created so I’m happy to share my opinion.

(Spoiler: you need it.)