Freedom Fridays, vol. 5: why you should make your own rules

Amalie Orrange is an Orlando personal branding photographer for joyful and driven female business owners that love big laughs and lots of color! She's a Florida native, a wife of a firefighter who she's known since elementary school, and a mom of two wildly creative teenagers. Just like us, she also loves dogs and has two of her own: Sophie, Chiweenie rescue pup, and Mattie, a Golden-Lab in the process of training to be a service dog. As if her love for dogs wasn't enough, she shares our own obsession with Orangetheory Fitness as well! She is also an avid Cycle Bar fan and loves finding new fun activities to keep active and social. 

Besides being a photographer, she is also a creative business owner, a business coach and community advocate with a huge heart for helping others discover opportunities within their business, and building strong business skills to excel talents and strengths within their brand. She prides herself in providing a customized experience that gives her clients bright, joy-filled, true-to-life images that can be used in countless ways to up-level their business and brand. She wants to encourage and motivate other female entrepreneurs and makers to live out their dreams and to get their brand and business noticed and appreciated by their ideal clients! Working with creative business owners who have a BIG love for helping others with their services or products they have created lights her up inside! 

What does freedom look like for you?

"Freedom for me is being able to spend quality time with my family. Being able to take time off to enjoy family vacations, travel, and have date days with my hubby! "

Going along and doing what everyone else was doing... isn't always going to work for you - blaze your own trail! - Amalie Orrange

When did you realize freedom was important to you?

"When I was working at my last job at Starbucks, I realized how important freedom was. I was working for a company that I loved for 8 years, but was growing increasingly tired of having to work on someone else's schedule. Being a mom of two kids under three, working at a job 30+ hours a week and then building my business for photography at night and in my free time.... I was exhausted. I realized I had to make the jump for more freedom with my time and schedule. It was a huge risk but SO worth it! "

What one piece of advice would you give to people that are in pursuit of their own freedom?

"Do not look at what others view as success or freedom, make it your own. Everyone has their own idea of what freedom is, be it financial or time; build your own freedom dream! Write down and speak your goals on a daily basis. "

As leaders in their space, they are always learning - what have you changed your mind/perspective on?

"I would have to say the biggest thing I have changed my mind on was that I needed to go the safe route in business. I took a HUGE leap and shifted my business three years ago from photographing weddings and engagements to photographing branding sessions. I started doing a new type of photography that was pretty much unheard of at the time. I saw a need for branding photography and styling with so many small business owners, makers, and entrepreneurs showing up in the online marketplace and realized that there was no one in town doing this type of work. So I made my own path, my own rules, and set the standard. Going along and doing what everyone else was doing or has had success in isn't always going to work for you - blaze your own trail!"

Most influential book?

"This is hard because I have a few. I would say my top two are Jab Jab Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk and Love is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends by Time Sanders. "