Photographer Business Help – A Profitable 2017 Part 1

Well hello New Year’s Eve, we meet again.

I have seen so many posts and articles about how much everyone hated 2016 – and I get it, I really do. Between politics, deaths, questionable media, and so many other things, there are so many things to look at in 2016 as negative.

But guess what – we can’t change the past, we can only look forward to the future and look at our part in changing our life circumstances.

Enter, a four part series about setting your business up to be profitable in 2017 – photographer business help for you to kick ass!

No, it’s not going to change the world’s politics, the craziness going on outside your window, or other people. BUT, you can control how you react to things, and the actions that you take to make changes in your own life, so let’s DO THIS.

Part one? Reflection and looking back. We can’t move forward and make changes if we don’t know WHAT TO CHANGE, am I right?

So grab a sparkly pen and a gorgeous piece of paper or journal, and let’s talk about 2016.

Let’s get real and get some facts.

Write down your answers to these questions, and remember – no one is judging you or grading you, so BE HONEST. If you don’t have an answer because you don’t know them, we need to talk, but fill out what you can! Try to keep your personal filters out of this – none of the I suck stuff – stick to the facts, no emotions unless it’s a question specifically about emotions.

THIS WILL TAKE TIME.

This is not a quick fix, or something that you can just throw together. Give yourself some real time to reflect and think about these things, because if you don’t know where you’ve been, you won’t know where you’re going!

What was your revenue goal in 2016?
What was your actual revenue in 2016?
How many weddings or sessions was your goal for 2016?
How many weddings or sessions did you actually book in 2016?
What is one word that describes your most amazing session in 2016?
What system or process did you put into place in 2016 that worked really well?
What did you achieve in 2016 that you are crazy happy about, or really proud of? (hint: it doesn’t have to be huge, make it personal!)
What was the overall, consistent feedback from your clients in 2016?
What was the overall, consistent feedback from other professionals you worked with in 2016?
Look at your clients for 2016 – where did they come from, how did they find you? (remember… facts!)
What was your favorite thing about your business in 2016?
What was your least favorite thing about your business in 2016?
What COMPLETELY FLOPPED in 2016?
What lesson can be learned from the flop?
Who did you work with in 2016 that you will NEVER work with again? (hint: you don’t have to name names, although this is private – think about soul sucking clients, or professionals that took advantage of you)
What did you learn from these people, about yourself or your business?

Let’s start there, and in the next few days, we are going to take those answers and look ahead to the new year, and what the heck to do with them!