Category — Business/Studio Tips

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Just recently, our company lifeimages hired a full time receptionist.  This was a big move for a small company!  We were excited and scared at the very same time!  In making this decision, we needed to first plan out the next five years, see where we wanted to be, what we wanted to be doing and see if this decision lined up with our goals.  It was helpful to actually draw out, and visualize, our goals.  I know, sounds very Grade 5 but it helped and here’s how we did it:

Big poster sized bristol boards and markers were to be our tools.  Both of us did a board each, filling in different areas for personal and business and then compared them.  For us, working with our spouse meant intermingling our personal life with business because as you can imagine, the two worlds are almost one!  lifeimages is such a huge part of our life right now that it was necessary to set both the personal and business goals at one time.  Many of you may work alone and this is fine, your poster board will just look different as your business will most likely be separate from your personal.

We also made note of the goals we had already achieved up to now.  Wow, how cool to see quite the list forming over the past 5 years!  I am sure it is the same for you.  If you actually take the time to sit and ponder what you have accomplished, it is probably more than you think!  We make it a point to celebrate these little achievements along the way.  We go out for dinner if we book a big wedding or take a day off after a big shoot.  Sounds simple but as we all know, business can easily take over if we let it!  When we booked our first $12,000 package, we popped champagne and ate chocolate strawberries. Yummmmm.  These are cool moments that should be remembered and keep you going when the going gets tough.

We picked what we thought was the “biggest” or “hardest” goal and wrote it in big bubble letters on the back room in our studio.  NOTE: Client’s do not see this area of our studio!  Everyday as Alex and I sit at our computers, we see this goal and it helps us focus on what is important.  Once in a while something will happen or a decision is made that lines up with this goal (such as hiring a receptionist).  We just write it under the big bubble letters so we see the steps that we are taking to get there.  I won’t tell you our goal, you will have to choose one for yourself, everyone’s will be different.  I will tell you this though, we will get there!  And when we do, we will let you know!  =)  This is such a fun industry to be in and each of us has room to be or create whatever it is you are passionate about.

I truly believe that if YOU believe it, it’ll happen.  So set some time apart this week and really think about you as a photographer and what your goals are.

Happy Visualizing!

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lifeimages. lifestyle wedding and portrait photography
website: www.lifeimages.ca blog: www.lifeimagesblog.ca