Doing What Best Suits You & Your Business

Doing what is best for you and your business takes a lot of thought and preparation. No matter the size or subject matter of your business. At some point in time if not on a daily basis you have to make business driven decisions. Some harder than others but all of immense importance, sometimes it's hard to make these decisions. So, I want to help you make the process of doing what is best for YOU and your business a little easier by telling you some of my secrets that keep me going.

Set achievable goals,

I like to set weekly goals, monthly goals and 3-month goals. I never set goals that are unobtainable, I set achievable goals for myself as well as for my business. This keeps me from feeling overwhelmed, burnt out and in the long run keeps me passionate and motivated to keep pushing forward. There's nothing worse than setting an unrealistic goal then failing to reach it. Now you're a little depressed because you feel like not only have you failed yourself, but you've also failed your business.

For those of you who don't understand our businesses they are like our Horses and our Children. We sink thousands of dollars, and blood, sweat and tears into our business because we love them so much. The over whelming feeling of failure is very real and it happens to all of us at one point or another. The good thing is that the unachieved goal will not break you, will it hurt? Of course, but it is not your end all be all. You will make it, you are the creator of a FREAKIN BUSINESS, you're a BADA$$ do not let anyone make you feel differently (yourself included).

Start by setting the simplest of goals such as, "This week I will research SEO and do better at making my blogs searchable". "This month I will post one blog weekly to encourage consistency to really push my blog posts". "In 3-months I hope to have at least 1 person mention or share one of my blog posts on social media." I encourage you to write your goals down and read them every single day. For the next week goal, month goal and 3-Month goal make them a little bit more challenging, and always try to incorporate education. You can never be too knowledgeable.

Remember to take care of YOU!

Don't drain yourself trying to fill your business cup, when your cup is empty. Always remember to take time out of the week to tend to your needs. I save time at least 2-3 days out of my week to have enough time to hit the gym and play with my ponies. This breathes life back into me and honestly some of my best business and marketing ideas come from my time in the barn. Don't drive yourself into the ground trying to maintain your business! That will only hinder you and your small buiz in the end. If you're not at full power neither will your business.

I work a full time Monday-Friday, 8-5 job, my photography business while also raising our daughter. He works off the majority of the time, so this leaves all of the farm chores and house chores to me and me only until he is home. I tend to work very long days from 5am-10pm. Which as you can imagine would be very taxing, therefore taking care of myself has to be a priority. I fall short on a regular basis I am not even going to lie to you. There are days when I'm a drive-thru mom because the thought of fixing dinner makes me a little crazy. Do not feel bad for cheating that diet or falling short on your social posts just don't make it a habit. We all do it at some point or another, because we are human and none of us are perfect. Well except you reading this your perfect;).

Make a plan and stick to it.

One of my many mottos is "consistency is key" because it holds true to everyday life not just small business owners. Think about it, does Boyd Martin skip days at the barn because he doesn't feel like it? NO! He gets up and works every day he goes to the barn to maintain his horses and to meet his goals. You have to be very self-disciplined to be consistent and if this is something you struggle with it's time to make a small plan and stick to it. I say a small plan because again don't set unrealistic goals. Your plan could be as simple as "Monday edit 4 albums, write a draft blog post, schedule social media posts, leg day at the gym."

Set specific things to accomplish each day of the week AND SEE THEM THROUGH!! If you can follow through for one day, then two so on and so forth then you're more disciplined and staying organized will be a little easier. If you are a procrastinator and tend to put things off but really want to reach your goals, yet you struggle and then ask yourself why? Well friend you probably need to reevaluate your consistency and figure out ways to become more be disciplined, learn to follow your own schedules. Learning to obtain your goals through persistence and dedication is tough but so are you.

My number one weakness is learning to follow through on my "to-do List's". It is my kryptonite! Seriously I am the WORST. I hit my business goals and tend to stick to my work and personal schedules but my "To-Do List" which for me is my home and farm chores. I fall short regularly because it's not my top priority therefore, I push it back. It causes me such an anxiety, and it is something I desperately need to work, and am working on it. Wanna hear a great example? I probably have 4 loads of laundry on my bed right now and here I am writing a blog. I am by no means perfect, but I am trying and at the end of the day as long as you are TRYING to be better and pushing to achieve greatness you will get there eventually.

PC: RAWS from Rachael Watts Photography (Shes the G.O.A.T.), edited by TKP!