Professional Photographer - USA (2019-12)

38 PPMAG.COM

ENTREPRENEURSHIPSUCCESS

BE GOAL ORIENTED

Fisk-Taylor’s second major shift was to be-

come more goal oriented. The idea is simple:

You create a goal, you document it, and you

pursue it. Items that don’t advance your pur-

suit of that goal are just distractions. You set

them aside and focus on what’s important.

For Fisk-Taylor, like many photographers,

the goal-setting process needs to be visual.

She creates a plan for achieving each goal

and writes it down. Then she schedules

chunks of time needed for the activities in

the plan. She gets granular and holds herself

accountable to her schedule. “I record every

important activity,” she says. “If I don’t sched-

ule it, I won’t do it, so I schedule everything. So

often, we blow off the little tasks that are im-

portant to our business. But when you sched-

ule them, they become part of your day. It

keeps your goals on track, maintains a cohe-

sive message to what you’re doing, and helps

you sync up with the other people involved

with your business.” The detailed scheduling

is tremendously helpful in streamlining a

daily routine and keeping us on task, mak-

ing it less likely that all the noise out there

will distract us from doing what’s important.

For the longer-term goals, Fisk-Taylor does

a quarterly review. She looks at goal prog-

ress, and if she’s off track, she can  x it.

“It’s important to do this at regular intervals

throughout the year,” she says. “If you wait

until the end of the year to check your prog-

ress, it’s too late. Look more frequently so

you can make changes.”

CREATE A FOCUS STRATEGY

Creating a focus strategy was a major par-

adigm shift for Fisk-Taylor’s studio. Often,

small business owners get stuck in an end-

less cycle of trying to make money, at the det-

riment of other business-building activities.

For photographers, this can mean saying yes

to too many things to try to bring in revenue

and  lling up your schedule with work you

don’t really want. “Instead, focus on your

ideal client, what they want, and how you

can help them,” suggests Fisk-Taylor. “Tune

out the rest, because it’s not moving you to-

ward your larger goals.”

Once Fisk-Taylor created a focus strategy

for her business, she was able to zero in on

more of the activities that really mattered and

shed the others. The result of this process

is identifying what best-selling business

author Mike Michalowicz calls the “queen

bee role.” If you could do just one thing at

your business to be pro table, what would it

be? A lot of photographers instinctively say

“photography,” but you may be surprised to

learn that’s not it. Maybe it’s strategizing the

direction of the business. Maybe it’s design-

ing new products or services for your clients.

Maybe it’s networking with like-minded

business owners to form valuable partner-

ships. Whatever that best use of your time is,

put your focus there. Then outsource every-

thing that you can contract out for less than

what you should be paid per hour.

“This is a hard process for photographers

because, as small business owners, they tend

to do everything,” says Fisk-Taylor. “But when

you do everything, I would venture to say that

you’re not doing anything to your potential.”

Try tracking your time for a few days, she

recommends. See what’s eating up your

hours. Do you need to do image editing? Do you

need to do bookkeeping? If not, outsource

them. If you could cut out even 20% of the

tasks that you’re currently doing that aren’t

helping your business grow, it would make

a huge difference. Once you’ve successful-

ly outsourced those tasks, look at the next

place you could streamline. “People say, ‘I

can’t afford to hire people for all that,’” says

Fisk-Taylor. “But look at it differently. If you

took all those hours that you’re doing small

tasks and invested them back into your busi-

ness, then you could make more than enough

additional income to cover those expenses.”

ENJOY AN UNCLUTTERED MIND

Five years into her noise-sifting journey, Fisk-

Taylor says the results have been life chang-

ing. She is less stressed, business is running

smoother, and she’s working less to gen-

erate more. Yes, it was hard work, but the

journey is free to anyone willing to put in the

effort. “It’s like dieting,” she says. “You don’t just

wake up and lose 20 pounds. You have to work

at it. It’s a process. The end result, however, is

empowering. You’re back in control—of your

business and your life. And when you take back

control, you’re stronger and more successful.” •

hayesand sk.com

Mary Fisk-Taylor

“Often, we get

stuck in a bubble,

surrounded by all this

information, and all

we see is social media

showing everyone

else experiencing

success, living their

best lives. It’s easy to

get down on yourself

in that context and

to think that you’re

stuck in a rut. But you

have to believe in your

potential and believe

that failures are

opportunities to learn.”

Mary Fisk-TaylorMary Fisk-Taylor