Talking Goals, Time Management, and Photography Business on Three Podcasts

If there's one thing I can talk about almost as much as horses, it's running a photography business.

I love the photography part, obviously. But I'm also fascinated by everything that goes into making a business actually work. The planning, the decisions, the systems, the client experience, and all the little things that can either make your life easier or have you wondering how it's possible to be this busy and still be this far behind.

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to talk about some of these subjects on several podcasts. Three conversations in particular covered topics that seem to come up again and again when I'm talking with other photographers: setting goals, managing time, and figuring out how to get everything done without spending every waking hour working.

If those sound familiar, you might enjoy listening to one (or all three) of these episodes.

Reaching Your Goals on The Business Animal Podcast

I joined The Business Animal Podcast for a conversation about reaching your goals as a business owner.

Goal setting is one of those things that sounds relatively simple until you start trying to figure out how you're actually going to accomplish everything you've decided you want to do.

It's easy to make a list of goals. The harder part is figuring out which ones matter most, what needs to happen to accomplish them, and how you're going to fit that work into everything else you're already doing.

And, of course, your goals need to make sense for the business you want to run.

If your goal is to photograph fewer sessions and have more time for your family, that's going to require a different plan than someone who wants to significantly increase their bookings.

The episode focuses on reaching your goals as a business owner, and it's a good starting point if you're thinking about what you want to accomplish next.

Time Management for Super Busy Photographers on The Profitable Photographer

I joined Luci Dumas on The Profitable Photographer to talk about time management, productivity, and some of the decisions that go into running a photography business.

We covered quite a bit of ground, including setting goals, in-person sales, automation, and outsourcing.

One of the things I think photographers need to recognize is that being busy doesn't necessarily mean you're being productive.

You can spend an entire day answering emails, updating spreadsheets, posting on social media, and checking things off your to-do list without making much progress on the things that actually matter to your business.

And I'm certainly not suggesting that I'm immune to this. I love a good to-do list, and there's something deeply satisfying about checking things off.

The trick is making sure the things you're checking off are worth doing in the first place.

Luci and I also talked about ways to make better use of your time, including deciding what you should handle yourself and what might make sense to automate or outsource.

Watch Episode 251: Time Management for Super Busy Photographers

Talking Business, Boundaries, and a Little AI on The Focal Points Podcast

I also had the opportunity to join Dorie Howell on The Focal Points Podcast, sponsored by nPhoto.

Dorie and I talked about managing a photography business while still having a life outside of it, which is something I think a lot of photographers struggle with.

When you're self-employed, there's always something else you could be doing. Another email to answer, another image to edit, another project that needs attention.

And because you're the person responsible for making sure everything gets done, it's awfully easy to keep working long after you originally intended to stop.

We discussed setting boundaries, blocking time for different tasks, and finding organizational methods that work for the way you operate.

We also touched on AI and the balance between using technology to make our work easier and maintaining the human creativity that's such an important part of photography.

It's a wide-ranging conversation, and I enjoyed getting to talk through these subjects with Dorie.

You can listen to the episode here: The Focal Points Podcast with Dorie Howell.

A Few Things Worth Thinking About

Although these three conversations covered different subjects, there are a few ideas that connect them.

Your goals should reflect what you want from your business. The way you manage your time should support those goals. And the systems you use should make it easier to get the work done, not create an entirely new collection of tasks for you to manage.

Of course, figuring out how to make all of that happen is where things get interesting.

If you're working through some of these questions in your own photography business, I've also written about business planning for horse photographers and time management for photographers.

Or you can just listen to the conversations. Sometimes it's helpful to hear how other people approach the same problems you're trying to solve.