How is it possible to run a photography business, manage a household, and still have time to achieve new goals? In today’s episode, I’m sharing how I manage to do just that and more. I’m diving into five key steps that I can attribute to accomplishing my goals and making things happen every year.
The Shoot It Straight Podcast is brought to you by Sabrina Gebhardt, photographer and educator. Join us each week as we discuss what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in, yet willing to talk about the hard stuff too, Shoot It Straight Podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.
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This episode is brought to you by Portfolio On Purpose, my step-by-step framework for planning and executing a successful model call. Model calls are so important for getting fresh eyes on your business, to create fresh images for new offers, and to create without the expectations of paying clients. With Portfolio On Purpose, you will feel inspired to take action and will have the steps and tools necessary to run a successful model call and get the images that your business truly needs.
Review the Show Notes:
Find clarity on your vision (2:09)
Turn your vision into goals (3:53)
Create a plan to consistently check in (4:58)
Build margin into your schedule (9:28)
Don’t measure your progress too soon (12:45)
Episode Links:
Review the Transcript:
Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast. I’m your host, Sabrina Gephardt. Here I will share an honest take on what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur. while balancing business, motherhood and life myself along with my guests will get vulnerable through honest conversations and relatable stories because we’re willing to go there. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in yet willing to talk about the hard stuff to to shoot it straight podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.
Welcome back to the shoot it straight podcast my friend, I’m really excited to share today’s episode with you because it answers a question that I get asked a lot. I get asked how do you accomplish so much. And before I go any further, this is not meant to be an episode that’s all braggy about how much I accomplished. It’s definitely not I am not about that over here. But I do accomplish a lot, especially when you consider my already really full life. So first of all, unless you’re new here, you know that I love to set goals. And I take them very seriously.
And yes, that is a small part of this process. But it isn’t the how the how behind everything I have done in the past four years and beyond. Like starting this podcast, hosting several retreats every year, launching new groups and programs year over year, speaking on stages, and so much more. This is the how that has made all of those things possible, while still running my photography business, taking care of my family traveling as much as possible and spending lots of time on self care, because I’m super bougie like that. Okay, the how I accomplish so much goes beyond just goals. And that’s what I’m sharing today, I’ve taken this question and turned it into five steps that I walk through over and over year after year that I can attribute to accomplishing so much. And that’s what I’m sharing today. Number one, get clarity on what you want. You can’t get things done without an understanding of what you want. You may have heard people in the coaching space talk about having a why behind your vision. And that’s what this step is for me.
When I think about a new year, I don’t just hope for growth, or increased revenue or something really general, I get clear on specifically what I want and why do I want it? Do I want to start a podcast? Write a book proposal launch a new coaching program? And then why do I want to do those things? Why are they important to me? And why is this the year that I’m going to go after them? knowing your why. And your clear vision for what you want is a game changer. Because so often people just think of like I said, those generalized statements of increase my revenue over last year, or I just want to grow my business. And those are great, general statements. But what does that mean? If you don’t have a clear vision of what you want, of what success looks like for you about why you want to grow, why you want to add something to your business, why you want to make that pivot, you’re not going to get very far. Okay? The clarity of vision, and the why behind your vision are what are going to keep you going when you’re not making much progress or when you fall behind. Or when you take three steps back. It’s so important to have a very clear vision of specifically what you want and the why behind them. The second step for me is the goals.
Okay, it’s turning that vision into goals. So after I have a clarity about specifically what I want and why then I’m making specific goals. Again, this episode is not a goal setting episode per se. So I’m not going to dive into a long explanation about this. But basically, I break down the big vision of what I want into specific, measurable goals. Okay, so going back to the example I mentioned before, if I want to write a book proposal this year, then I’m going to give myself a deadline for that big goal. Okay, and then I’m going to break it down into smaller goals so that I can stay on track, right? Maybe that means by the end of the first quarter, I will have drafted an outline for the book or researched publishers or joined a writers accountability group. So I’m taking the bigger vision, this specific what and why and then I’m turning it into measurable actionable goals. Okay. That’s just part of the process.
Step three for me is about out creating a way to consistently check in on those goals, it’s not enough to have a vision a why, for specific goals that you want, you have to check in with them, you have to keep these goals and your y at the top of mind, I always keep a list of my goals on my desk where I can see them. I also like to check in with them once a month or so to make sure that I’m not getting distracted, and spending my time on things that don’t matter. Some years, I’m also utilizing a vision board to keep that visual reminder of where I want to go. Okay, if you’re creative, like many of you are, we like pretty pictures, pretty colors. And it’s a fun little kind of craft project to create a vision board. If you’re creating one with like the old school way, right, where you’re cutting out of magazines, and you’re using markers and washi tape and, and all of that. It’s something that has you working with your hands, which if you have ever been a teacher, or if you remember back from school, when we do things with our hands, it kind of locks into our memory and into our brain a little bit tighter than if we’re just reading something. So that can be a really wonderful exercise to help keep you on track. All of these things, right?
Having the list of goals having a vision board, they’re going to keep you focused, you cannot expect to write goals and create a plan in January, and then have that keep you motivated for an entire year. Okay, we are too busy for that. If I can’t remember why I walked into the other room, and that happens on the regular Okay, probably every single day, I certainly will not remember to stay focused on one goal for an entire year, I need to check in on them frequently to ensure that I’m staying on track. Personally, I like to schedule these check ins, okay, I literally put a reminder or schedule a time in my Google calendar so that I’m getting an automated reminder, I’m also writing it in my planner so that I know on the 25th or the 28th or the last Friday of the month, or whenever it is that I’m going to spend time going back to my goals and just reading through them checking off things that I’ve done making sure that I’m still on track.
And oftentimes, what happens is that I realized I may have started to veer a little bit or gotten a little bit distracted and it’s a helps me refocus helps me reprioritize moving forward. Okay, so scheduling the time to consistently check in on my goals. Friend, I want to take a quick second to tell you about a new freebie I have that I’m super excited about whether you are hoping to launch a new offer this year. Or maybe you’re just burned out and looking for some creative inspiration. You will love this new freebie portfolio on purpose. This is my exact step by step framework for planning and executing a successful model call that I’ve been teaching my paying students for years. In case you don’t know why this is so important. Model calls are a great way to do a lot of really positive things in your business. They get fresh eyes on your business, they give you a way to create images that support a new offer that you might want to launch model calls give you a place to play and create without the expectations of paying clients. And they’re a great way to fine tune your skills and expand your portfolio.
The portfolio on purpose freebie includes a video worksheets, checklists, examples and everything you need to make this process super easy and super successful for you. When you go through portfolio on purpose, you will walk away with the knowledge of what the benefits of model calls are, how they can support your business creativity and growth, how to create one that pulls in the right people how to keep it organized, including a step by step workflow. At the end of this freebie you will feel inspired to take action and have the steps and tools necessary to successfully put the model call out find the right models and most importantly, get the images you are looking for. If you’re hoping to run a model call or maybe a few this year, head over to Sabrina gebhardt.com backslash model dash freebie to get yours today. Okay, back to the show.
Step four is something that is a really, really big one. Okay, this is one that I didn’t use to do. Quite honestly I did not used to do this years ago and I majorly learned my lesson. So step four is leaving margin so that life can happen. Okay, leaving margin so that things can get backed up so that you have time to play catch up, or you simply pause when you need to. Okay, so here’s the thing after you’ve created
Do your goals, okay and a schedule to check in on those goals, you should then be setting time aside. In your days and weeks like actually on your calendar, you need to be setting time aside to work on the goals. I have a newsflash for you. If you plan on simply, quote, finding time, that’s not going to happen. You will be sorely disappointed by how much you do not get done. Because most of us, we are running businesses and households, okay, there isn’t really any margin to work from, generally speaking. So not only do you need to make sure that you carve out intentional time to work on your goals. You also need to carve out margin. Yes, I’m telling you to take your already busy schedule, and carve out time for your goals, and carve out more time for margin. So here’s why.
We already have a jam packed schedule and a jam packed life. Our days are filled and overflowing, and things are tight. If you tighten things up on your schedule to create a few hours here and there to work on your goals, things are just going to get even more tight. And that will work some weeks when nothing goes wrong, and you are super disciplined. But what about the rest of the weeks? What about the weeks where your child is home from school sick, or you have a bunch of newborns that arrive early and throw your entire schedule off, or your car has to go to the shop, or there’s a death in the family. Or maybe you’re just simply moving slowly through your days because you’ve got PMS, those weeks will happen more often than not. And if you don’t have margin in your schedule, your life will quickly get thrown into a real dumpster fire situation. Okay. And any momentum that you had, from working on your goals just got thrown completely out the window. This is why creating intentional time to work on your goals.
And intentional time for margin is an absolute game changer. And here’s the beautiful thing. When you have that margin built into your calendar, and everything does go smoothly, you have a week where everyone’s healthy, everything happens as scheduled, you’re feeling good, you’re staying productive, wonderful, you have extra margin, do with it whatever you want. Use that time to work on your goals, use that time for self care or use it for my favorite thing whitespace. And for most of the weeks when something goes wrong, something goes not as planned. You’ve got margin and wiggle room in your calendar. Okay, it is an absolute game changer. So step five, the last step for for me, it isn’t really a step as much as it is a reminder. One problem I see people struggle with over and over again, is that they are trying to measure their progress too soon. You have probably heard me talk about this on the podcast before but I have to mention it here because it’s so important of a reminder, it’s really easy to work hard on a goal and stay so focused for a week or two. And because we’re working so hard, we want immediate results. Okay, we want to know that our efforts are paying off. But you and I both know that most big goals don’t work that way.
They are a long, slow process. And when you try to measure your progress too soon, what happens to most people is that they don’t see any progress. And then they lose momentum because they are frustrated, right. They’ve put in all this hard work for a week or two weeks, and they measure their progress and nothing has happened. So they throw in the towel, they’re frustrated, they give up, it’s not working. Instead, allow the change to be slow and steady. Expect the change to be slow and steady. Allow yourself to work for a month or for six weeks before you even attempt to measure progress. Let that snowball really get going. Because when you do that, you will see progress. Instead of working toward the progress in the early days of working towards a goal. simply focus on continuing to move forward. simply focus on continuing that forward momentum. Take a few steps in the right direction on most days. Okay, continue the forward momentum and then imagine how far you will get by the end of the year. You will be able to look back at the end of the year and see just how far you’ve come because you’re in a completely new place because you took one or two steps every single day. At the end of this episode. I’m just going to give you a quick little recap. These are five steps
that will help you actually accomplish what you want to accomplish this year. How to actually make these big things happen in your business and they are not just about setting goals. The five steps are number one, find clarity on your vision. Number two, turn your vision into goals. Number three, create a plan to consistently check in on your goals. Number four, build margin into your schedule. And number five, don’t try to measure your progress too soon. That’s it for today, my friends. I hope this episode encourages you and leaves you inspired to make this year, the year that things actually happen for you. If you loved this episode, would you share it on Instagram and tag me? I love to connect with listeners on the gram and it makes me so happy to know when an episode resonates with you. All right, friends. We’ll see you next week.
Thanks so much for listening to the shoot it straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes and details from today’s episode at Sabrina gebhardt.com backslash podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gebhart photography. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review. Until next time, my friends shoot it straight.
