Welcome to episode SEVEN of the PBH! There’s been a lot of foundational stuff so far, and not a ton of photography stuff. But it’s ALL part of building a business, no matter if you’re a photographer or not.
Man, this is exciting to get through nearly a month of content! It’s just the beginning, but I think I’m finally starting to find my groove a little bit. There are a lot of moving parts that come with this podcast, and keeping everything straight is easy, only if I stay on top of it.
Adding something new to your routine is always a little weird at first. When I teach my CCC, one of the pieces of feedback I get is that scheduling time to actually DO the course trips people up. I get it. I’m pretty sure this is a human thing, and you’re not alone.
But prioritizing things is super important, obviously. You WILL always find time for the things at the top of your list. Anyone responsible for another living creature, animal or human, knows this well.
So why do we have such a hard time deciding when to prioritize something? And why do we say YES to so many things thinking that we’re being awesome, when actually, we’re just stressing ourselves out more?
Mel Robbins says “Your value increases the more you can say no.”
What do you think?
Why are we taught to say yes, yes, yes to everything shiny that flies in front of us…and if we don’t, somehow there’s shame or negative energy attached to the word…no.
For me, deciding what I can take on and what I can’t, comes down to clarity. I just felt half of you listening roll your eyes because I say clarity a lot, but it’s TRUUUUEEE.
I’d like you to try a short exercise here that will hopefully get you closer to saying yes to the right things and no when you should:
Remember in episode two when I asked you to imagine yourself one year from now in painstaking detail? If you missed this, listen to episode two or head to https://photobusinesshelp.com/resources-freebies/ for the PDF version to keep.
Okay, so you see yourself, one year from now.
What steps did you take to get there?
Let’s say you don’t have a website, and your goal is to have a beautiful, functioning website that you love sending potential new clients to. You’ve decided this is a TOP priority because without it, you don’t have a business home base. You don’t have a place to build your brand. I agree, a website is very important for a lot of businesses. You have decided what you need to do over 90 days, each month, and each week to get there.
Then something else comes up. Someone wants you to take a cooking class on Monday nights. You love cooking, but Monday’s were reserved for website work. The class is only 6 weeks, you think, so you can work around it. You say yes to the class and shuffle the website work around.
Then a family dinner pops up on the new website day.
Then a late work meeting.
Then a really killer new series on Netflix.
I’m not saying to stop living your life. Not at all. You should do the things that you enjoy. However, if something is BIG enough to make your list of “what I want to see in one year” then you must make time for it. That thing is going to move you down your path and, eventually, give you the freedom to do more cooking classes down the road.
So try this:
Pick 3 things that you MUST see happen in the next year. Things that will really change your life and planning for the better.
Schedule time every single week, based on what you need to get accomplished, to do these things. It might be 10 minutes or 10 hours a week, just schedule it.
Stick to the damn schedule.
Say YES to yourself and these incredibly important dreams you have. You are not saying no to the cooking class arbitrarily. You’re saying yes to yourself.
Next, if someone asks you to do something that seems fun but infringes on your precious time blocks, know that it is okay to say no. Give yourself permission to work on what you have deemed top shelf.
And that’s it!
If you’re wondering how photo-focused this podcast is going to get, I’ll be diving into some juicy photo-topics in coming episodes. But remember: weather you’re a photographer or building something else, a lot of what we cover here applies. And, I believe it’s important.
All my super deep dives in photography gear, workflow, etc are labeled with PHOTO in the title, too.
Thanks for listening everyone! In all you want to achieve, remember consistency is key.
Love & light.
One more thing:
If you’re feeling like you’re staring at a fresh jigsaw puzzle of your life all laid out in front of you, I hear you. You have all of the pieces, and a to-do list with a million bright ideas, but you don’t know how they all fit together, or in what order…sound familiar?
If you feel like you might need more help prioritizing, organizing, and being accountable to your goals, I can help!
