The Coworkers I Didn’t Know I Was Missing

Katie lyke | Austin in-home family photographer

I stared at the dollar amount on my computer screen and felt a little sick to my stomach.

I had never spent that much money on my business before. But I had this feeling—an inkling, an intuition—that whatever I spent would come back to me. I hoped I'd make it back within a year.

I made it back in the first three months.

It was the spring of 2023. I had just come off my busiest fall season ever, and I was burned out. There was no way around it. I had overbooked my calendar, overextended myself, said yes to absolutely everything, and it showed. By the end of fall 2022, I didn't want to pick up my camera.

I knew something had to change. I just didn't know what.

And through a random Instagram DM with another Austin photographer—commiserating over the lack of bluebonnets that season—I found myself saying yes to Sabrina Gebhardt's Root to Rise Mastermind. And then the next year, I did it again.

No investment has been more impactful for my business or my personal growth than the time I spent with Sabrina as my coach. The financial return was there. The business growth was there. I gained clarity, balance, healthier boundaries, and a better understanding of how I wanted my business to serve my life instead of the other way around. I even started seeing a therapist because of gentle nudging and encouragement that began during my first year in Root to Rise, a decision that changed my life in ways far bigger than business.

But today, I don't want to talk about any of that.

I want to talk about the people.

Because if I'm honest, finding my people was the thing I didn't know I needed most.

For fifteen years, I worked in healthcare. I was surrounded by coworkers, doctors, nurses, technicians, paramedics, and the swirling chaos of hundreds of people around at any given hour. There was always someone to ask for advice, someone to celebrate a win with, someone who understood exactly what kind of day you'd had before you even said a word.

Then I left.

When I jumped into photography full-time in 2021, I gained freedom. I could build a schedule around my family. I could pick my daughter up from school. I could create a business that fit my life. But I also found myself really, really lonely.

Entrepreneurship can be incredibly isolating. It's easy to get stuck in your own head. Easy to second-guess every decision. Easy to feel like you're figuring everything out alone. What I didn't realize was how much I missed having people around me—people who were ahead of me, people beside me, people willing to tell me the truth, and people willing to cheer me on.

That's what Root to Rise gave me.

First, there's Sabrina.

Sabrina has this incredible ability to lead women. She sees potential before you see it yourself. She asks hard questions. She helps you identify where you're going and then challenges you to actually get there. And she doesn't sugarcoat things.

As someone who spent years in healthcare, sometimes I need someone to look me in the eye and tell me what I need to hear instead of what I want to hear. Sabrina does that beautifully, with equal parts wisdom, honesty, and care. She has an incredible way of bringing women together and creating spaces where people genuinely want to see one another succeed. Her knowledge is unmatched, and she's an open book with what she's learned. I appreciate that more than I can say.

Then there are the women at every stage of their photography journey.

The women who are a few steps ahead of you and the women who are just getting started. The women building businesses you admire. The women asking questions you've asked before. The women solving problems you haven't encountered yet, and the women wrestling with challenges you've already overcome.

One of the things I love most about this community is that there is always someone to learn from and always someone to encourage. I still remember sitting in retreat sessions listening to conversations that felt completely irrelevant to where I was at the time. Now I pull from those lessons constantly. There were discussions about pricing, systems, boundaries, and business decisions that didn't apply to me yet, but simply being in the room gave me a glimpse of where I was headed.

Watching the photographers lead the family sessions during our retreats literally changed the course of my business. I remember standing there watching them create beautiful, emotional, artful images inside someone's home and realizing, Oh. This is it. This is what I want to do.

Until that point, I don't think I fully understood what was possible with in-home family photography. Seeing the stories they were able to tell, the connection they were able to capture, and the beauty they found in ordinary spaces completely shifted the way I thought about my own work. It's not an exaggeration to say that those sessions helped shape the direction of my business.

And now, years later, I find myself having conversations with photographers who are newer to the industry. Sometimes I get to answer a question. Sometimes I get to share a lesson I learned the hard way. Sometimes I get to reassure someone that the thing they're struggling with is normal—not because I have all the answers, but because someone did that for me.

There's something really special about learning from the women ahead of you while also extending a hand to the women coming behind you. In a profession that can feel incredibly isolating, that's how community grows.

And then there are the cheerleaders.

The women who celebrate every win as if it were their own. The ones who comment on the Instagram reel you spent three hours making. The ones who send voice messages after a launch. The ones who understand exactly how much courage it took to raise your prices, publish that vulnerable post, or finally hit send on that email.

It's the truest form of community over competition, something I had heard people talk about for years but had never fully experienced until I stepped into Sabrina's world.

And then there are the friends.

The women you somehow end up talking to every single day on Voxer during the drive home from school drop-off or while folding laundry or sitting in the pickup line. The women who know the details of your business, your family, your fears, your goals, and your dreams.

The women who have listened to countless voice notes that end with, "thank-you-for-listening-to-my-podcast-episode/I-think-Voxer-is-going-to-cut-me-off/how-are-things-going-with-you?" The women who started as strangers and somehow became part of your everyday life.

You share things with them that you never expected to share. You watch their businesses grow. You watch their families grow. You celebrate promotions and launches and babies and milestones. You carry one another through hard seasons.

And before you know it, they become your people.

These women have quite literally changed my life. I can say with complete confidence that I would not be the photographer I am today had I not said yes to Root to Rise. My business would look different. My confidence would look different. My friendships would look different. My life would look different.

When I joined, I thought I was investing in education, but what I was really investing in was community.

I was investing in people who would challenge me, encourage me, celebrate with me, cry with me, answer my voice notes, and remind me who I am when I inevitably got stuck in my own head.

If you're a photographer sitting on the fence, wondering if something needs to change, wondering if you're ready for the next step, wondering if you're capable of more than what you're currently doing—I can tell you that I felt all of those things too.

And saying yes was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Not because it changed my business (although it absolutely did).

But because it reminded me that I wasn't meant to do this alone.

Sabrina’s Fall 2026 cohort of the Root to Rise Mastermind is open for enrollment—if you’re interested but have questions, please reach out. I’d love to share more about my experience, connect you to Sabrina, and offer a discount code!!