So this is a blog I never envisioned myself writing! I received an email last week and I had to re-read it a few times because the sender said her name was ANGIE MCPHERSON. Say what?! My iPhone took too long to load the message so in that 5 seconds I thought 1) Okay this is spam or 2) If we really do have the same name then this is probably an absurd cease and desist or something. Here’s how the email went…

“Hello Angie McPherson, my name is also Angie McPherson and I own angiemcpherson.com. This week I realized that I don’t need a website. Most of my work is published in other places and on social media. I wanted to reach out to you directly to see if you wanted to take over the domain name. Love your work!

Best,
Angie”

SAY WHAT?! She wants to give me the domain I’ve wanted for over 4 years (since I started my business) for seemingly…free? She just wants to hand it over?? I emailed her back in gratitude and almost asked if she wanted my left kidney or right. I worked in marketing for 8+ years before I took this business full-time so I have experience buying domains that are already in use. People charge THOUSANDS of dollars. Angie responded so kindly and said we could do the transfer via GoDaddy and within 48 hours, it was done. www.AngieMcPherson.com now points to my current website. This may seem small to someone who doesn’t own a business but ya’ll, this is huge. I used to work for a concert venue and was tasked with buying a domain name that was being used by someone else. They wanted us to pay 8 THOUSAND dollars (we didn’t). So it blows my mind that this kind soul sought me out and gifted me something SO valuable and precious to her. She could have sold it. She could have just let her domain expire and go back into the system for anyone to purchase. Her gesture is so inspiring to me. How can we all go OUT OF OUR WAY to serve a complete stranger? Opening doors for people, letting someone cut in front in line at the grocery store… those are all very kind things. But how can we be intentional about surprising and delighting someone new? I’m just thinking out loud in this blog in hopes that ideas will start flowing for me and for you! And also reminding myself not to immediately assume the worst of someone’s random act of kindness (I did think it was spam LOL).

My ideas are also flowing with what I want to do with this new domain. For now, it will continue to point to this site but I have much bigger and better things in mind! It would be a great platform to host the Education for Creatives aspect of my business! I’m thinking a resource library, video tutorials and more! I have to use this gift to serve others just like Angie did for me. If you’re a wedding professional/creative entrepreneur and interested in following my journey in fleshing out this new website, sign up for my email list HERE! As a bonus, you’ll get 50 marketing strategies delivered to your inbox 🙂

Here’s the sweet Angie McPherson and we actually have a few things in common! Not only is she a photographer in VA (Alexandria!) but we both have yorkies!

My pup Bentley on the left, her pup Arthur on the right!

THANK YOU Angie!! This is a gift I will treasure forever and you have inspired me to pay it forward! Next time you’re in the area, I want to shoot a couples session for you and your husband!! And friends, you can follow Angie on Instagram by clicking here! Xoxo!!

PS! If you liked this blog, check out these fun posts:

5 Lessons from my first year as a Full-Time Wedding Photographer

Paying it Forward (As Told in Gifs)