5 ways I’m lightening my mental load in 2025
In the spirit of the new year, and the launch of this new website and education endeavor, here are a few work/life balance
1 - CREATING A GLOBAL CALENDAR
By this I mean mapping out the year - yes, the FULL year - and thinking about my priorities for each month. Some months might be about business, but it’s not always about making the sale. Some months may be about taking a vacation, or something much smaller like hosting a dinner party or learning a new skill. By forward thinking how you want your year to look, you’ll find yourself ahead of the game as opposed to feeling like you’re always merely keeping up. This also helps redefine what a successful month looks like. This year, for example, I found myself confused as to my Q3 was slower than usual. Then I realized it was by design - I took time off to attend a photographer workshop in Iceland and to vacation with my family. So as far as personal development went, it was a win!
2 - PUSHING MY CREATIVITY
Did you know, I learned photography on film! (yes, I’m that old!!) I own several cool old film cameras and the interest for film shoots has spiked in the past year. I admit, I’m pretty rusty when it comes to film photography, so I plan to brush off my skills and practice so I can confidently bring more film shoots to my clients. My goal is to offer a day of film minis to my past clients over the summer (it’s on my global calendar and now I’ve put it out in the world so I’m keeping myself accountable!)
Another easy way to push your creativity is to switch up your shooting location. I love my studio but in producing my first course, “The Art of the Hotel Photoshoot,” I remembered how much fun being OUT of the studio was, and how being outside of your comfort zone can really push you to create Art. So other location photoshoots are also on the list for the new year.
3 - STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
We photographers and solo-preneaurs can lead a pretty solitary work life. This is one of the many reasons why my collaboration with Sugar Cookies Lingerie has been a valuable addition to my business. Working with Sugar Cookies essentially doubles my marketing department (previously it was just me!) as we promote each other and recommend clients to one another. It’s also fun to have someone else to check in with and bounce ideas off of. Several of my past clients run female focused businesses - OBGYNs, life coaches, travel agents, postpartum health providers, beauty influencers, makeup teachers - and I’m going to reach out to some of them in the coming months to see what kind of other collaboration opportunities we can offer each other.
4 - DELEGATING THE TASKS THAT DON’T BRING ME JOY
About wearing all those hats, I for one, am done with it. Bookkeeping, social media managing and studio cleaning are three things that I know I am not good at, dread doing and put off indefinitely. Hiring freelancers to pick up those tasks has been a game changer for me. This year, I’m aiming to let go of some admin tasks and pass more off to my social media manager to transition her to more of a studio assistant - things like packing up and mailing products and steaming the studio wardrobe must be done and also are not the best use of my time.
5 - THINKING ON WHAT REALLY SERVES MY CLIENTS BEST
I’ve been using the same albums and album companies since I created Brooklyn Boudoir back in 2014. They are the albums that most other boudoir photographers use and to be honest, while they are acceptable, I’ve ever really LOVED them, and I know I can do better for my clients. So I’ve got a new Fantasy Album in the works and will be upgrading my standard album to give my clients an even more luxurious final product. Now I just have to get these new products photographed and up on my website (see previous point about delegation!)
BONUS - UNSUBSCRIBING TO JUNK EMAILS
I get soooooo much junk mail! While I try to unsubscribe over the course of the year, it’s also so satisfying to designate a day systematically hit unsubscribe on every unwanted email that comes in. You will feel FREE not waking up to 25 emails you just automatically delete. And on that note, it is my nightmare to become one of those newsletters. My pledge to you is to add value to you and your business as best I can, not be sales-y, avoid the Ick and bring you content you are actually interested in. So please, reply to this email and let me know what you are hoping to achieve in 2025!
