Today I wanted to tell a story about me and my business partner. How we met, what brought us here today and what makes us so special. As today is our 1 year anniversary of meeting and starting this amazing partnership that we have today. So, happy anniversary and here’s our story.

How We Met

A lot of people know that Heather and I are neighbors. Of course we are much more than that now. But that’s how we started and how we met. With any small town, it’s very easy to hear the gossip of when someone’s house goes on the market. Especially neighbors who have lived here forever. Well in the fall of 2019 the rumor was some lady from the cities was moving into the neighbors house and she was turning the place into a retreat. Lots of people were skeptical of this as we had no idea exactly what this meant. Fast forward to this time in 2020. Something in me told me I should get in touch with this new neighbor. I wanted to learn more about her and thought if she was running a business it would be good to be in touch with each other and at least network a little. So, I watched a great video on her Facebook about her vision and that pulled me in immediately.

Pouring my heart out in an email, I sent it off to this stranger. Told her what I wanted to do with boudoir. And that I wanted to make it more available in Glenoce instead of having to take women to the cities to rental studios. I was super nervous when I hit send on that email. I was worried she wouldn’t like my vision, that she would judge what I was trying to do. It was very weird hoping that she would like it and want to kind of work together. Not long after I sent that email I got a response. Now that was also just as terrifying to open and read her response. But I had nothing to worry about as I opened the email and read the excitement that she had for hearing about me.

Meeting Each Other

Well we set up a time to meet in person and get to know each other more. Again, intimidating. Lol. But Heather was so nice. Asked lots of questions about me and told me everything about herself and the business she wanted to create. It was so warm and welcoming to chat with another business minded person. To share ideas and come together talking about it all. And then she gave me the epic Femme Farm tour. She showed be around the house downstairs and everything was just gorgeous. The previous owners took great care of the place and gave her a great canvas to work with. The place was beautiful and she mentioned that she had a space upstairs that would be a great space for me to rent for boudoir sessions. I was excited for a possible location right next door to use. And I expected her to have a little guest room that was cute and full of light for me to use.. I was wrong.

The Boudoir Space

She showed me upstairs and showed me a few guest rooms that were beautiful. But she wouldn’t say those spaces were the ones she had in mind for me. Then she walked me in the last room. This was the master bedroom in the house. She tells me this was the room she envisioned for me to use. I was blown away for sure. The space was huge and full of natural light. There was a getting ready space and a bathroom! I couldn’t believe she was willing to share her master bedroom space with me for boudoir. It was so amazing that the vision she had for The Femme Farm (www.thefemmefarm.com) for aligning with the ultimate vision I had for my business and career. Her generosity with that one offer to use her home as my studio space was such a blessing.

Our Journey

After that day of course covid hit. So, we all (her and I) took a little break from being open for boudoir and being open for retreats. But come June of 2020 we went full force into boudoir sessions happening at The Femme Farm. Through every session and every month that went on we grew as a team. Heather and I made points to re-group after each session to see what went well and what could have been improved on. We talked about situations that came up. We made sure we were all supporting the women that walked in the door. When we needed to, we changed things to make the process and experience better. We made updates to the studio and the sets we had available. Every step we took through 2020 we learned more and grew together.

We became more than just people who did business together. We definitely became friends. There many times where business chats turned into life chats. We learned so much about each other and taught each other much more. What started as just business grew into so much more. I am very grateful for a great business partner (because seriously that’s what she is even if never of us have stake in the others businesses). And an even closer friend to help me out with everything.

Happy Anniversary

I know it’s long, but that’s our journey and our story about how Heather and I started what we are now doing. Today we celebrate 1 year as friends with many more to come. Happy Anniversary woman! Check out her website http://www.thefemmefarm.com to learn more about her services and offers. And of course check out our home page http://www.melissaleephotos.com to learn more about boudoir and our offerings. Also, come join us in our women’s only Facebook community http://www.facebook.com/groups/boudoirbymelissalee to be part of the movement we’re creating. Happy Anniversary Heather! Love you lots!