I don’t normally make posts like this, but I’m tired.

I am so tired of working all hours of the day and night to photograph, edit, communicate, troubleshoot, and deliver galleries- only to have someone receive the service and the finished product and then turn around and dispute the charge with their credit card company.

When that happens, the money doesn’t just disappear from a business account on a spreadsheet. It is money that supports my family and our livelihood. Then it can be tied up for weeks or months while I gather contracts, emails, text messages, delivery records, gallery information, and every other piece of documentation necessary to prove that the service someone paid for was actually provided.

And I genuinely do not know what more I am supposed to do.

Over the years, I have listened. I have changed policies. I have modified the way I operate. I have improved my communication. I have updated my website. I send emails. I send texts. I make phone calls when necessary. I send gallery notifications. I remind clients after sessions to check their spam and junk folders because gallery emails sometimes land there. I follow up. I answer questions. I document everything.

I have continued changing and improving because I have always taken pride in this business and in the experience I provide to the families who trust me with their memories.

But at some point, there has to be a line between accepting constructive criticism and allowing yourself to be taken advantage of.

I know I will never make everyone happy. No business owner can. But lately, it feels like no matter how much I communicate, how much I explain, how much I improve, or how hard I work, there is always another battle waiting on the other side.

And it is exhausting.

Behind Lauren Grace Photography Co. is an actual person. A wife. A mom. A small-business owner who has spent countless nights sitting at a computer long after her family has gone to bed because she wants her clients to have photographs of their families that they will treasure.

I have poured years of my life into building this business. I have missed sleep. I have sacrificed family time. I have taken criticism and used it to make changes where changes needed to be made. I have owned mistakes when they were mine to own.

But I will not accept being treated as though my time, my work, and my livelihood have no value.

If you book a service, receive that service, and receive the product you paid for, please understand that disputing that payment has very real consequences for the small business and family on the other side of that transaction.

Small businesses are not faceless corporations.

There are real people behind them.

And right now, this one is tired of having to fight to be paid for work that has already been done.

Respectfully,

LGPCO