A Call to Action | Hampton Roads Business Owner

Hi!

Earlier this week I had a mini wake-up call. One I have not, admittedly, completely ingrained into my psyche yet-but I'm getting there. (Did I say "psyche?!" Yes.... it's that deep of a wake-up call I guess *sigh*)

 

On Monday my mentor pointed out a glaring issue in my business approach.

I have no long-term, purposeful, planned, movements.

Meaning I do what I want, when I feel like it, when I want to do it.

Don't get me wrong: I most certainly think things through before I do them and think long and hard before I commit to stuff. If you've met me you know I'm a control freak (which for the record I think is harsh title to carry, mkay?) so I never just JUMP into decisions and I usually need like 17.5 people's opinions and "okay's" before I commit to big things.

But what I realized (thanks to it being pointed out to me with a huge HELLO road sign convo with my mentor) was that I am listless. If I have free time I work. If I have 30 minutes I spend it planning out things on Pinterest (sometimes things I have NO date set for yet). If I have an afternoon I'll work on packaging or website or blogging or editing or or or or or. If I have 10 minutes I'll check in on facebook and try to respond to messages.

If I have time I will ALWAYS sit down to work on SOMETHING.

 

But I shouldn't be working on SOMETHING. I should be working with purpose. I should be working with direction and an end-goal.

 

Sure, editing a session has an end goal: when I send the images off to the smiling happy face of my client :)

But I do not set boundaries on myself with my work hours and I do not prioritize my work tasks.

This is changing. NOW.

With set time frames to do work I will be FORCED to prioritize my tasks.

Owning a business and being the sole employee for that business means there is ALWAYS something that can be done (hence why when I have a free second I have always been able to fill it with things for the business). This also means there is ALWAYS room for improvement on something or growth in some aspect of the business. Which translates into me ALWAYS thinking about what I can do with the few minutes I have waiting on my husband to be ready to head out the door (and what can you really do with just a few minutes?). 

 

But without direction it's like walking your dog in a field full of squirrels-- nothing gets done and you're off on this chase trying to keep your dog in line where in the end you're just tired and didn't accomplish anything (except maybe the dog had fun...).

  

So here I am. Committing to myself and my business that I will be purposeful with my time. I will be organized and goal-directed with my tasks. I will have planned out work time with specific tasks for those times each day (these planned work times will also include planned breaks-- because SURPRISE I also have trouble telling myself to breathe). And I will be intentional in my planning and execution of all things in my business.

First step: Purchase a year long wall calendar (dry erase because I don't like to be wasteful) so that I can plan out my business goals WAY in advance and therefore have every piece of work I do be purposeful towards that goal.

 

The time has come to get my act together and let my act(ions) have purpose! Here goes!

(Wish me luck!)

Best,
Sarah

Any ideas you have for staying focused and being purposeful in your actions? I'd love to hear them! Share them below in the comments!
 

What I ordered :)



"Hey Stella!" | Hampton Roads Business Consultation

Hi!

Last night I had one of those experiences where it has all the potential in the world to be totally AWKWARD, painful, embarrassing- the works! It even had the potential where you could slip up and admit you know way more about the person than you should- that's right, I met someone I've only ever spoken to ONLINE.

You know those people on facebook you follow and comment on their things like you're best friends? No? Well that's totally what I do. I have a thousand best friends- they just don't know it! The problem was I then won a FREE sounding board mentor session with this person- now I was stuck. I had to meet them! The meeting was only through Skype since Stella, the business mentor, consultant, and marketing guru of the awesome Ask Stella, lives elsewhere- but still! All I kept thinking the whole week leading up to it was: "Ok, Sarah, don't make a fool of yourself. You're not best friends."

But it was SO awesome! Off the bat Stella was welcoming, friendly, humorous, and completely approachable. Awkward silences? Nope! No joke, one of the first things I said to her was "Hi! I don't really know how to do this..." How embarrassing, right?! I was totally UN-COOL! But she seamlessly took us in to the good parts of conversation (you know the kind that flows and feels natural?) and I forgot completely that I didn't "know how to do this."

  

But what is a sounding board session you might ask? I didn't know either at first. I like to think of it more as a mentor session-that helped me to wrap my head around the concept a bit more. In this case the mentoring focused on branding and how to tie the Sarah Elle Photography brand in to everything- specifically packaging. As you probably know by now my brand focuses on mustard yellow (inspired by my obsession with my mustard yellow camera bag), a deep blue, and gray/silver. But how do I bring that in to everything? We're talking website, blog, thank you cards, business cards, rep cards, facebook, appointment reminders, session guide, session prep guide and on and on and on!

 Stella helped me to see how to accentuate my brand and bring out a sense of who I was AND who Sarah Elle Photography is. We discussed "feelings" and goals for the business and how I felt I wanted to be represented and how to tie that in to attracting my goal market. She SIMULTANEOUSLY skyped with me AND linked me to tons of websites, companies, and other resources to show me the different options out there that SPECIFICALLY FIT Sarah Elle Photography! How awesome is that?! It wasn't simply, "Oh, here's a company I like to use" it was "Here is a great company with high quality products that have boxes that match your brand and here I've linked you directly to that box!"

Stella not only knows her stuff she knows exactly where to find it, too! I'm the type of person who, if given a blank slate of options, will get totally overwhelmed and lost in the pretty colors. Stella linking me directly to examples that fit Sarah Elle Photography made it easy to envision those products in my life- and I didn't get distracted or overwhelmed by the rest of the BILLION OPTIONS on the sites.

After my session with Stella I am now BEYOND excited to pump up my packaging and highlight who Sarah Elle Photography is.

(For example I LOVE this digital paper pack from Sassy Designs she introduced me to- doesn't it scream Sarah Elle Photography?!)

 It's time to dig deep and bring everything together to help truly enhance each person's experience- from the first glimpse of the facebook page or website to the ribbon that ties together your box of images from your session- I want you to feel Sarah Elle Photography. I want you to enjoy each part of your time with me- not just your session day. I want each moment to be a new and exciting experience. And I want people to see a mustard yellow sweater in a Target commercial and immediately think of ME. Thanks to Stella and our first (yes, first, because I KNOW I'll be chatting with her again in the future) sounding board session I know just where to start to make it all happen!

And for those who were curious about my "best friends" comment from earlier you'll be happy to know Stella and I truly are best friends now! And she'll know as soon as she reads this blog post ;)

Best,
Sarah

*for more information on your own sounding board session or all of the awesome products/services Stella offers be sure to check out her website: www.stellareynoso.com