EP 46: Time Blocking Your Calendar

00:00:00 [Alison]
There’s plenty of research to show that we waste a lot of time when we switch from task to task.
00:00:04 [Alison]
So if you can time block and do batch create content or batch edit, then you’re saving yourself a lot of time and again, mental fatigue.
00:00:11 [Alison]
Hey, I’m Allison, military spouse and family photographer.
00:00:11 [Alison]
Hey, I’m

00:00:14 [Melissa]
Melissa, also a military spouse, lifestyle newborn photographer, and SEO expert for photographers.
00:00:19 [Melissa]
Between the two of us, we have twenty seven years in photography and have lived through nine business relocations.

00:00:24 [Alison]
We’ve coached each other through all these challenges, and now we want to share our experience with you.
00:00:28 [Alison]
On this podcast, we’ll give you actionable steps to help you keep it moving.

00:00:35 [Melissa]
Hey, guys.
00:00:35 [Melissa]
This week, we are talking all about calendars.
00:00:38 [Melissa]
We’re gonna talk about the tools that we use.
00:00:41 [Melissa]
We’re gonna talk about time blocking and how we use it for our own business and some reasons on why does it matter.
00:00:46 [Melissa]
Like, why should you worry about your calendar and stuff?

00:00:49 [Melissa]
What are a few, like, right off the top of your head?

00:00:50 [Alison]
Oh, for me, right off the top of my head, fatigue and, like, burnout With all the different things with different clients in different directions and different stages of fulfillment or pre shoot, like, it really stresses me out and blows my mind to try to think about everybody every time.
00:01:06 [Alison]
And then that’s just just within the photography side.
00:01:08 [Alison]
But then when you add in a second business with the coaching and education side, like, I’ll implode.

00:01:13 [Melissa]
Oh, absolutely.
00:01:13 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:01:14 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:01:14 [Melissa]
I think the mental like, just protecting your mental energy.
00:01:17 [Melissa]
Also, not switching tasks, like, being able to, like, time block to batch.

00:01:20 [Melissa]
And we’ll get more into this, guys.
00:01:21 [Melissa]
These are just

00:01:22 [Alison]
some highlights.
00:01:23 [Alison]
There’s some stats.
00:01:24 [Alison]
I can’t think of any of them off the top of my head or where I’ve seen them, but there’s plenty of research to show that we waste a lot of time when we switch from task to task.
00:01:31 [Alison]
So if you can time block and do batch create content or batch edit, then you’re saving yourself a lot of time and, again, mental fatigue.

00:01:38 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:01:39 [Melissa]
And then personal life.

00:01:40 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:01:41 [Alison]
This is you’re really good at this.
00:01:42 [Alison]
I’ve been following in your footsteps more

00:01:44 [Melissa]
about this.
00:01:44 [Melissa]
And I’m like I’m hearing from other people ideas on stuff, and we’ll talk more about it.
00:01:49 [Melissa]
But I’ve, like, where I’m like, oh, where could I time block more?
00:01:52 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:01:52 [Melissa]
And leave my schedule more to protect my mental health type thing.

00:01:56 [Melissa]
Okay.
00:01:56 [Melissa]
So time blocking.
00:01:58 [Melissa]
So as we talk about what is it, it it’s blocking off chunks of time for reoccurring tasks or projects.
00:02:04 [Melissa]
So for me Yep.
00:02:05 [Melissa]
I do a lot of that with, like, batch stuff.

00:02:07 [Melissa]
And a lady I listened to recently, she had mentioned that if she has a day that she knows she has meetings or she’s gonna do recordings, like, she tries to do it all in one day, so that way she only has to do her hair and makeup one day a week.
00:02:17 [Melissa]
And I was like, you are speaking my language, own heart.

00:02:21 [Alison]
I was

00:02:21 [Melissa]
like I’m like, if okay.
00:02:23 [Melissa]
And so just this week, I knew I needed to batch record some end of the week and some blog post topics of the week, and I wanted to make it, like, with a holiday background because it’s we’re gonna reuse them next year, spoiler alert.
00:02:33 [Melissa]
And so I’m like, okay.
00:02:35 [Melissa]
I’m gonna do my hair.
00:02:36 [Melissa]
I’m gonna put on a little makeup.

00:02:37 [Melissa]
And by little, y’all, it’s like eyeliner and mascara, and that’s what you get.
00:02:41 [Melissa]
That’s all I do.
00:02:42 [Melissa]
That’s all you get.
00:02:43 [Melissa]
And then I just I recorded five or six of them.
00:02:45 [Melissa]
So I’m wearing the same sweater in all of them.

00:02:47 [Melissa]
I didn’t change out

00:02:48 [Alison]
or whatever, but I’m like

00:02:49 [Melissa]
but that’s to me, that’s how I do, like, a time blocking for batching stuff.
00:02:54 [Melissa]
What are some other things?

00:02:55 [Alison]
I also time block for different reoccurring tasks.
00:02:57 [Alison]
So I get on the phone with all of my new inquiries.
00:03:00 [Alison]
I do things a lot differently than most photographers.
00:03:02 [Alison]
I own that, and I wanna make sure I talk to them and let them know that they’re not gonna not read something and which happens.
00:03:09 [Alison]
But I only do client calls because and this is all this is born out of necessity.

00:03:13 [Alison]
I got so overwhelmed this summer when I had so many inquiry calls.
00:03:16 [Alison]
I was doing them every single day, and I just was like, I can’t I cannot waste more time.
00:03:21 [Alison]
So I decided I’m only doing them Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
00:03:24 [Alison]
And I chose Monday, Wednesday, Friday because follow-up emails go out every two days.
00:03:30 [Alison]
So I’m one of those people, I don’t check my personal email every single day, and so I could miss a couple emails if I got reminder emails every day about something.

00:03:38 [Alison]
So I like to send people a follow-up email every day.
00:03:41 [Alison]
So by choosing Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I only go into my leads on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
00:03:45 [Alison]
I update their status.
00:03:47 [Alison]
I send out a follow-up emails if they haven’t gotten on the phone or if they have gotten on the phone, I reach out to them again.
00:03:51 [Alison]
And the Monday, Wednesday, Friday are the only days I think about leads, which is the same thing, like, the only day I do my inquiry calls.

00:03:57 [Alison]
And I do them between a couple hour period, and I only take up to three, period.
00:04:01 [Alison]
And again, out of born out of necessity because I did four or five one day, and I was like, names were swimming in my head even though, like, they were sitting right in front of my calendar or on front of me on my computer screen.
00:04:12 [Alison]
It was like verbal vomit.
00:04:13 [Alison]
I felt like I was not serving people well or attending them well.
00:04:17 [Alison]
And so yeah.

00:04:17 [Alison]
So my tasks are Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
00:04:19 [Alison]
And then the same thing on the back end with my gallery reveals, I only do them on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday because I never wanna be, like, shocked on a Monday, go, oh my god.
00:04:29 [Alison]
Oh, session’s not ready.
00:04:30 [Alison]
So I don’t do them on Mondays.
00:04:31 [Alison]
And then Thursdays, we podcast.

00:04:33 [Alison]
And Thursdays, I only do coaching stuff, like working on the blogs or the back end or what have you, cleaning podcast content creation and whatnot.

00:04:41 [Melissa]
So that leaves Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday.
00:04:43 [Melissa]
For me, I I think it was a while.
00:04:45 [Melissa]
Like, at one point, it was probably, like, two years ago, I was so overwhelmed with the one on one mentoring that I was doing along with done for you clients.
00:04:54 [Melissa]
And I remember I just felt like every day I had a meeting.
00:04:57 [Melissa]
And I was just like, I hate this.

00:04:58 [Melissa]
I hate this that every day I have a meeting.
00:05:00 [Melissa]
Sometimes I have two and I know it sounds crazy when I’m like, I had two meetings in one day.
00:05:04 [Melissa]
But the prep work beforehand and the follow-up afterwards and the fact that when I’m doing, like, a coaching call or something like that when I was doing the one on one mentoring, like, it’s a lot out of me.
00:05:14 [Melissa]
I am not at x byte.
00:05:15 [Melissa]
The fact that we’re on, like, podcast and stuff.

00:05:17 [Alison]
Personal life balance.

00:05:19 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:05:19 [Melissa]
And so handle.
00:05:20 [Melissa]
I was like, I just wasn’t happy.
00:05:22 [Melissa]
Like, my mental health was just not doing well.
00:05:24 [Melissa]
So I heard from somewhere.

00:05:26 [Melissa]
I implemented no meeting Mondays and no meeting Fridays.
00:05:29 [Melissa]
So Friday and Monday are completely blocked off on my calendar.
00:05:31 [Melissa]
So I only do meetings Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
00:05:34 [Melissa]
And for me, that lets me slow roll into the week, and then that lets me, like, just I’ve always found Fridays.
00:05:40 [Melissa]
Nobody’s around anyway, to be honest.

00:05:41 [Melissa]
If you all look at your email box, it Friday is the day to send email if you’re trying to get through to the people who are really hard because not many people send emails on Fridays.
00:05:49 [Melissa]
And also for us too, it lets us in the summertime.
00:05:52 [Melissa]
If we wanna take off for the boat early, we could take off Thursday night or Friday morning and then not come back until Monday.
00:05:57 [Melissa]
And the last thing I wanna do was have to tell my family, we can’t go to the boat on Friday or we have to be back on Sunday because I have a meeting.
00:06:04 [Melissa]
And I know, yes, we’re entrepreneurs.

00:06:06 [Melissa]
We can work from anywhere or whatever.
00:06:07 [Melissa]
But there’s something about being at your desk with all your crap in front of you and Yeah.

00:06:11 [Alison]
You you find a better service.
00:06:12 [Alison]
You’re in your zone.
00:06:13 [Alison]
You’re focused.
00:06:14 [Alison]
You don’t wanna do that stuff on a boat with your kids around.

00:06:17 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:06:17 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:06:17 [Melissa]
And there’s no way I’m getting away from everybody.
00:06:19 [Melissa]
It’s not that thing of a boat kind of thing.
00:06:21 [Melissa]
For me, yeah, it’s definitely blocking those just those days and stuff.

00:06:24 [Melissa]
And I recently heard where a coach was talking about blocking I think she blocks the last week of the month from meetings.
00:06:31 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:06:32 [Melissa]
And then that way because they’re trying to prioritize travel in their business.
00:06:35 [Melissa]
And so that way, she knows that the last week of the month is always a week that if they wanna do a last minute getaway or go somewhere, that’s when she can do it.
00:06:42 [Melissa]
And I was like For her personal life.

00:06:43 [Melissa]
Right?
00:06:43 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:06:44 [Melissa]
For her personal life.
00:06:45 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:06:45 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:06:45 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:06:45 [Melissa]
And I was like, oh, that idea.

00:06:47 [Alison]
I’m just thinking about this too.
00:06:49 [Alison]
My work case is a form of time blocking.
00:06:50 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:06:51 [Alison]
Going away, taking like, knowing I’m gonna get this major project from point a to point b, that’s time blocking by itself.
00:06:57 [Alison]
Or I’ve been trying to do this.

00:06:59 [Alison]
I’ve been trying to take the first day or two of the month to do housekeeping, file taxes, log expenses.
00:07:06 [Alison]
I have a recurring task for this every month.
00:07:09 [Alison]
I have yet to do

00:07:10 [Melissa]
it.
00:07:11 [Melissa]
I have yet

00:07:11 [Alison]
to do it.

00:07:12 [Melissa]
I do have my reoccurring task for file sales tax.

00:07:14 [Alison]
It’s I do it just whenever it happens when I feel like I’m about to get penalized.
00:07:17 [Alison]
That’s when I

00:07:18 [Melissa]
Oh, no.
00:07:18 [Melissa]
Because in South Floor in Florida, they the crap out of you, and they have the worst for all of our Florida people.
00:07:25 [Melissa]
I feel you, y’all.
00:07:27 [Melissa]
That sales tax system, like, I wanted to kill someone every time I had to file taxes.
00:07:31 [Melissa]
It was like the IRS of, like, we know how much you owe, but you don’t.

00:07:35 [Melissa]
But if you get it wrong, we’re gonna find you.
00:07:38 [Melissa]
And it wasn’t like Virginia.
00:07:39 [Melissa]
Virginia was, like, what, a $10 or

00:07:40 [Alison]
something or whatever?
00:07:41 [Alison]
Something reasonable.

00:07:43 [Melissa]
I can’t remember what Florida was, but it was ridonkulous.
00:07:45 [Melissa]
And it was it took one time of me screwing that up for me to say, no, no, we’re gonna put a reminder on the calendar.
00:07:50 [Melissa]
They do it the first, so that way I have plenty of time.

00:07:52 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:07:53 [Alison]
Hawaii is more laid back.
00:07:53 [Alison]
I have it on the first, but I I just don’t I got things a little bit more pressing.
00:07:57 [Alison]
I got hotter pots on the stove than that.
00:07:59 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:07:59 [Melissa]
But if they’re charging you a $100, like, fine for being laid back I’m not you’ll

00:08:03 [Alison]
be not doing that.

00:08:04 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:08:04 [Melissa]
Change your attitude real quick.
00:08:06 [Melissa]
I’m sure it will.
00:08:07 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:08:07 [Melissa]
And so thinking about for you guys too, for starters, both of these are things for, Allison and I that it simplifies our calendar, and it simplifies our life.

00:08:14 [Melissa]
So I know Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, those are the days I have meetings.
00:08:17 [Melissa]
So Monday, Friday is when I’m at the doctor with the kids and I’m scheduling a follow-up, I know I can always schedule it for a Monday or a Friday because I don’t take meetings those days.
00:08:26 [Melissa]
And then I actually had a point where the blogging club had their q and a.
00:08:30 [Melissa]
I started doing it, and I don’t know why I picked this, to be honest, the third Thursday of every month.
00:08:36 [Melissa]
And then group coaching always had their stuff every other Tuesday.

00:08:40 [Melissa]
Then I would try and is it the third Thursday yet?
00:08:43 [Melissa]
Do we is what’s going on?
00:08:45 [Melissa]
And so finally, I was like, I just did this last month, and I said, nope.
00:08:48 [Melissa]
Tuesdays.
00:08:49 [Melissa]
Tuesday is coaching day.

00:08:52 [Melissa]
And so I know every Tuesday at 01:30, I am on a Zoom meeting, whether it’s with a blogging club or whether it’s with group coaching.
00:08:59 [Melissa]
But that makes it so much simpler so so that I

00:09:02 [Alison]
don’t miss anything.
00:09:03 [Alison]
And that’s why we’re talking about this.
00:09:05 [Alison]
Right?
00:09:05 [Alison]
That’s, like, simple refinements that just make things easier.
00:09:10 [Alison]
Like, it’s these tweakings.

00:09:12 [Alison]
That’s why we have a podcast.
00:09:13 [Alison]
That’s why we were on Polo together.
00:09:14 [Alison]
Like, and when you never get it right the first time, it takes time and experience and hearing from other people, which is why we’re here for you guys in the

00:09:22 [Melissa]
first place.
00:09:22 [Melissa]
And for photographers too, like, blocking for sessions.
00:09:26 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:09:26 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:09:27 [Melissa]
That’s a huge one you guys can do.

00:09:29 [Alison]
That’s so that’s one.
00:09:30 [Alison]
So I only do whether it’s, like, limiting how many sessions you take a week because I only do maximum two, sometimes three if I’m stupid, if I don’t have anything around it.
00:09:39 [Alison]
But I remember back when I was shooting weekends in Virginia and Okinawa, I would have to block off one weekend every single month.
00:09:47 [Alison]
And it it was for my sanity because I was homeschooling, Colin was gone a lot.
00:09:52 [Alison]
I just couldn’t shoot, but it also was for my business in that I had to have a backup in case we had bad weather.

00:09:57 [Alison]
So if we planned first week of the month, I had these shoots on and then it was a washout.
00:10:02 [Alison]
I had to reschedule within three weeks that would work for them.
00:10:05 [Alison]
And so then the washout weekend would become my weekend off.
00:10:08 [Alison]
I would break, enjoy that weekend even though the weather was terrible.
00:10:12 [Alison]
But then it served my clients well because I was able to to reschedule them.

00:10:16 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:10:16 [Melissa]
And I think that’s yeah.
00:10:17 [Melissa]
That’s huge too.
00:10:18 [Melissa]
Even if you’re a wedding photographer and I know it can be hard, guys, because you’re like, how do I know if a client’s gonna book?
00:10:23 [Melissa]
There’s a point where you have to protect your mental health and you Yeah.
00:10:26 [Melissa]
I know for a while there, I was doing so many weddings and stuff, and I started doing that where I would have one weekend a month that was off.

00:10:32 [Melissa]
And I would stress out because I’m like, maybe I’m not gonna book those others, but I maybe I picked the wrong one to block, that kind of thing.
00:10:39 [Melissa]
But you really need to look at your calendar and look at it now and say, okay.
00:10:43 [Melissa]
What are the dates that I need to block off to keep my mental health?
00:10:46 [Melissa]
Because it’s just too much.
00:10:47 [Melissa]
And then even with sessions, yeah, I do sessions also Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday kind of thing.

00:10:51 [Melissa]
And then for weekends and stuff now, I block weekends off.
00:10:55 [Melissa]
So I do not do sessions on weekends at all.
00:10:57 [Melissa]
That is just how it is at this point in my business.
00:10:59 [Melissa]
I don’t have to.
00:11:00 [Melissa]
I don’t have to.

00:11:01 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:11:01 [Melissa]
So think about that.
00:11:02 [Melissa]
So I would suggest to, like, think about your sessions.
00:11:05 [Melissa]
When do you wanna shoot?
00:11:06 [Melissa]
When do you not wanna shoot?

00:11:08 [Melissa]
You know, block that off.
00:11:09 [Melissa]
I’m now at a point too where I’m blocking off family sesh family sessions.
00:11:13 [Melissa]
I am not doing them from, like, November to March is the plan.

00:11:16 [Alison]
Amen.
00:11:17 [Alison]
It’s too cold.

00:11:18 [Melissa]
I got that from Jenna Kutcher, like, ten years ago.
00:11:20 [Melissa]
I feel like where she’s out and, like, where it’s super cold, and she was like, nope.
00:11:23 [Melissa]
Not doing sessions.
00:11:24 [Melissa]
And I was like, that is brilliant.
00:11:25 [Melissa]
I don’t wanna be out there either in January.

00:11:29 [Alison]
Girl, are you still struggling to get profitable?
00:11:31 [Alison]
Are you relaunching your business or trying to refine your profitability?
00:11:34 [Alison]
Allison here, and I’ve been there.
00:11:36 [Alison]
As a military spouse for fifteen years, I’ve moved my photography business seven times, effectively launching a new business with each move.
00:11:43 [Alison]
I’ve anywhere longer than three years.

00:11:45 [Alison]
I’ve had all inclusive, hybrid, and virtual IPS structures, and I know what it takes to adapt and thrive.
00:11:51 [Alison]
I went from barely supporting my hobby in the early years to generating consistent 6 figure sales, supporting my crazy family along the way.
00:11:58 [Alison]
If you’re ready to break through the roadblocks, attract dream clients, and finally see the profits you’ve longed for, let’s work together.
00:12:05 [Alison]
Visit alisonbell.co to learn more or DM me on the gram at keep it moving pod.
00:12:10 [Alison]
Links in the show notes.

00:12:11 [Alison]
Let’s do this.

00:12:13 [Melissa]
You can start with that.
00:12:14 [Melissa]
Start thinking with your sessions, then start thinking about, like, your personal calendar and stuff.
00:12:19 [Melissa]
Personal day.
00:12:20 [Melissa]
So the first thing I do when I get the school calendar is I immediately go into my work calendar and I block off any days the kids are off school.

00:12:27 [Alison]
Every single one of them.
00:12:28 [Alison]
Yep.
00:12:28 [Alison]
I have two school calendars I’m having to balance now, but

00:12:32 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:12:32 [Melissa]
The

00:12:32 [Alison]
high school, I’m a little more wish washy.
00:12:33 [Alison]
I didn’t take his fall break off.

00:12:35 [Melissa]
I took Right.
00:12:35 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:12:36 [Melissa]
At that point, once they’re at a certain age where you’re like,

00:12:38 [Alison]
okay.
00:12:38 [Alison]
I wanted to hang out with him.
00:12:40 [Alison]
I wanted to make sure I could take him and his friends to go do something, but it was like a day, not a week.

00:12:44 [Melissa]
Not a week.
00:12:44 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:12:45 [Melissa]
But blocking out, like, right now, we’re coming up recording this.
00:12:47 [Melissa]
We’re coming up on the Christmas holiday, and I have it blocked off.
00:12:50 [Melissa]
Like, as soon as the kids are out of school, I’m like, nope.

00:12:53 [Melissa]
That is busy time.
00:12:54 [Melissa]
Now I do have the flexibility that I could open up a certain day for a client if we needed to have a meeting or something, but I’m not leaving it open for discovery calls.
00:13:01 [Melissa]
Those can wait till January.
00:13:03 [Melissa]
I’m not gonna rearrange things and because I wanna spend time with my kids.
00:13:06 [Melissa]
So summer vacation, that’s another one too of figuring out.

00:13:10 [Melissa]
I’m looking at it now of what do I need to block for next year, because I need to work over the summer, but I also wanna spend time with the kids.
00:13:18 [Melissa]
So what camp weeks are we gonna do and getting that blocked on my calendar and then vacation and stuff like that.
00:13:24 [Melissa]
I used to be the worst when it came to weddings.
00:13:27 [Melissa]
I always booked a wedding Labor Day weekend because I would always forget about it.

00:13:32 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:13:32 [Alison]
And I would never

00:13:33 [Melissa]
have the right day.
00:13:34 [Melissa]
And I don’t know how many years my husband’s, what are you doing for Labor Day?
00:13:36 [Melissa]
I’m like, I have a wedding.
00:13:38 [Melissa]
I was good for Memorial Day, but I always screwed up Labor Day.

00:13:43 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:13:43 [Melissa]
So I block that stuff ahead of time.

00:13:46 [Alison]
One of the things I like when it comes to personal, and maybe I’m getting ahead of my taking your kids’ birthdays off for yourself.
00:13:52 [Alison]
I still send them to school if they’ve got school, but, like, I take them off, like, little treat myself like I birthed.

00:13:57 [Melissa]
My best friend does that, and she will take off from work, and she will, like and I’m like, really?
00:14:03 [Melissa]
I just like, yeah.

00:14:04 [Alison]
I got that from you.
00:14:04 [Alison]
It was from probably from me telling me about your BFF.

00:14:07 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:14:07 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:14:08 [Melissa]
I’m like, that’s I’ve never thought about that.
00:14:09 [Melissa]
I I didn’t

00:14:10 [Alison]
do it this past week with Jack’s birthday, and I’m kicking myself.
00:14:14 [Alison]
I did.
00:14:14 [Alison]
But we ended up with a head injury, and I took it half off because yeah.
00:14:18 [Alison]
But they love me.

00:14:18 [Melissa]
I’m thinking about I’ve started glocking the day before because of making sure I have all the decorations.
00:14:23 [Melissa]
And now we live out in the middle of nowhere, so I gotta blow up those balloons myself.
00:14:26 [Melissa]
Just getting all of that stuff done.
00:14:28 [Melissa]
That’s funny.
00:14:29 [Melissa]
But I do love that idea too.

00:14:31 [Melissa]
Oh, I do take my so I’m Yeah.

00:14:33 [Alison]
I take my birthday off.
00:14:34 [Alison]
Birthdays.
00:14:35 [Alison]
Absolutely.

00:14:35 [Melissa]
I know.
00:14:36 [Melissa]
It’s starting to sound like you and I never work.

00:14:38 [Alison]
We do.
00:14:39 [Alison]
But you know what?
00:14:40 [Alison]
I’ve been telling myself a lot lately, and I’m hitting, like, a gross income milestone that’s pretty big for me.
00:14:46 [Alison]
I don’t wanna say it.
00:14:46 [Alison]
I don’t wanna jinx anything, so I’m not gonna say it.

00:14:48 [Alison]
When you think about even hitting that milestone and think about actually okay.
00:14:51 [Alison]
But how much am I actually bringing home because of Profit First?
00:14:54 [Alison]
I know my percentages.
00:14:55 [Alison]
And I’m like, oh, man.
00:14:56 [Alison]
For doing that much, I’m like, my income isn’t always really great, is it?

00:15:01 [Alison]
Except when you think about how much time off and how much I’m not working, and I am making the equivalent of somebody working forty hours a week.
00:15:09 [Alison]
And I’m working from ten to two most days of the week, not all of them.
00:15:14 [Alison]
And I’m getting time off for weeks during the summer.
00:15:17 [Alison]
I am doing pretty darn good.
00:15:18 [Alison]
I’m having to remind myself and tell him I am making a very good amount of money for what I am doing.

00:15:24 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:15:24 [Alison]
For part

00:15:24 [Melissa]
I guess, you could say it’s part time work.

00:15:26 [Alison]
It’s truly part time.
00:15:27 [Alison]
Like, it but it is a full time income.

00:15:29 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:15:29 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:15:30 [Alison]
And I get to go to all my kids’ games.
00:15:31 [Alison]
If there’s a measure of success outside of a financial goal that I got to just drop everything in the spring for for death in the family and go back to Charleston for two weeks.
00:15:42 [Alison]
Nobody else in my family got to do that.
00:15:44 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:15:44 [Alison]
My my brothers and my sister still had to do go to work.

00:15:47 [Alison]
The kids still had that’s pretty incredible.
00:15:48 [Alison]
And Colin got and Colin was granted emergency leave to come with us.
00:15:51 [Alison]
That’s pretty damn good.
00:15:52 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:15:53 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:15:53 [Alison]
So, yes, how do we do all of this?
00:15:56 [Alison]
So Melissa and I do use some tools to help us keep organized, and I’m gonna run them down the ones we know of.
00:16:03 [Alison]
There’s so many more.
00:16:04 [Alison]
There’s so many ways to skin the cat, but here’s some we currently use or have used.
00:16:08 [Alison]
Calendly, Tave, HoneyBook, and Melissa just started using TidyCal.

00:16:12 [Alison]
So for me, when it comes to my my Calendly, I’m using the free version.
00:16:17 [Alison]
I’m not even paying for it, but this is for my inquiries.
00:16:20 [Alison]
So I have availability set up every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, like I mentioned, from probably twelve to two, something like that, where I can I get a new inquiry?
00:16:29 [Alison]
I text them.
00:16:29 [Alison]
I say, hey.

00:16:30 [Alison]
I actually have an availability for that.
00:16:32 [Alison]
I would love to chat with you.
00:16:33 [Alison]
I send them my little my spiel, and then I send them the link to book an inquiry call.
00:16:37 [Alison]
And sees Calendly because they’re not a job yet.
00:16:40 [Alison]
They’re not a client yet.

00:16:41 [Alison]
They’re simply inquiring.
00:16:43 [Alison]
And so Calendly gives them the will send them a reminder information.
00:16:48 [Alison]
It reminds, hey, don’t forget you have a call at this time.
00:16:51 [Alison]
It automatically puts it on my Google Calendar, and it lets me

00:16:53 [Melissa]
So your Calendly is sending out a reminder?
00:16:55 [Melissa]
Because mine wouldn’t do it unless I pay for an upgrade or something.

00:16:58 [Alison]
It’s sending one reminder,

00:16:59 [Melissa]
I think.
00:16:59 [Melissa]
That was

00:17:00 [Alison]
one of the reasons I needed.
00:17:01 [Alison]
It won’t let me let me do, like, multiples.
00:17:02 [Alison]
But what I love about it is, like, they have to book I send them the link, and they only have the option to book within, I think, days.
00:17:10 [Alison]
So I’m not letting them book next week.
00:17:12 [Alison]
I do want them to book I prefer seventy two hours, but because I’m not taking I’m not doing calls every single day, I put it out to four or five days.

00:17:19 [Alison]
So they can book anytime within the next week because I wanna get them while the iron’s hot.
00:17:22 [Alison]
It’ll let me limit it to only three calls in a single day.
00:17:26 [Alison]
I get their email, their phone number.
00:17:27 [Alison]
They get a reminder email.
00:17:29 [Alison]
They’re able to reschedule or cancel if they change their mind about anything.

00:17:33 [Alison]
And then it goes on my Google Calendar, and so I can see what I need.
00:17:36 [Alison]
And then, of course, it blocks off and doesn’t allow anybody to double book.
00:17:39 [Alison]
But, also, if I have something today, like a kid’s class party or something, I’ve had to train myself, it’s taken a year, but I go into my Google and I set up whatever events I have to do, and Calendly will work around that.

00:17:52 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:17:52 [Melissa]
So they’ll sync.

00:17:53 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:17:53 [Alison]
They’ll sync yep.
00:17:54 [Alison]
They’re syncing, and so Calendly is reading my personal calendar or my business calendar.
00:17:59 [Alison]
And as long as I’ve got my paddle in there for every Tuesday, I can’t nobody’s gonna be able to book anything while I’m busy paddling.

00:18:06 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:18:06 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:18:06 [Melissa]
So I was using Calendly for the last two and then I I switched over to TidyCal, Anna Mitanken with podcast, and she had mentioned it.
00:18:14 [Melissa]
And the thing I liked about TidyCal is it’s like a one time I think I paid, like, $39 for it.
00:18:18 [Melissa]
It’s from AppSumo or something.

00:18:20 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:18:20 [Melissa]
That’s what I’m saying.
00:18:21 [Melissa]
Like, get off Calendly and go get TidyCal.

00:18:23 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:18:23 [Alison]
I’m using the free version, but Calendly was, like, $10 a month.

00:18:26 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:18:27 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:18:27 [Melissa]
No.
00:18:27 [Melissa]
That was why I just had to I had to set a a calendar reminder to cancel Calendly.

00:18:33 [Alison]
Affiliate link that we need to put in the show.

00:18:34 [Melissa]
Will look for that.
00:18:35 [Melissa]
I think I do for AppSumo for TidyCal, and I think I actually used Anami’s affiliate when I signed up for it.
00:18:40 [Melissa]
So That’s we’ll put that in the show notes.
00:18:42 [Melissa]
But, yeah, I love TidyCal very much the same as Calendly.
00:18:46 [Melissa]
One thing I like that TidyCal does is I my Calendly, I swear, was not sending out reminders.

00:18:51 [Melissa]
And so TidyCal does send a reminder and also sends a reminder to me.
00:18:55 [Melissa]
The only thing that throws me off is it sends a reminder twenty four hours beforehand.
00:19:00 [Melissa]
And yesterday Yep.
00:19:01 [Melissa]
I no.
00:19:02 [Melissa]
Tuesday, I hopped on because I was like, oh my gosh.

00:19:04 [Melissa]
I’ve got this call in five minutes.
00:19:06 [Melissa]
I can’t believe I forgot about it.
00:19:07 [Melissa]
I was like, I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already.
00:19:10 [Melissa]
And in my brain, I was like, yep.
00:19:11 [Melissa]
It’s Wednesday.

00:19:12 [Melissa]
And then I got on the call and I was like, no one’s here.
00:19:15 [Melissa]
And shoot.
00:19:16 [Melissa]
It was the twenty four hour reminder, not the five not the eight

00:19:19 [Alison]
thirty hour reminder.

00:19:20 [Melissa]
That’s tough.
00:19:20 [Melissa]
And so that’s my only I have to train myself.
00:19:23 [Melissa]
Hey.
00:19:23 [Melissa]
That’s not but I still want that reminder.
00:19:25 [Melissa]
I want to, like even though I I say this all the time now, at my age, I know I need to do something, but I will still forget.

00:19:32 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:19:33 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:19:33 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:19:33 [Alison]
So There’s just so much to think about.
00:19:35 [Alison]
There’s so much to think about.

00:19:37 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:19:37 [Alison]
And Calendly will also this is really important for me.
00:19:39 [Alison]
Change it to the person’s time zone.

00:19:40 [Melissa]
So Oh, interesting.

00:19:41 [Alison]
It’s one of those little things you take for granted Yeah.
00:19:44 [Alison]
Because Tave’s scheduler is so new.
00:19:46 [Alison]
They’re not

00:19:47 [Melissa]
Okay.

00:19:47 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:19:47 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:19:48 [Melissa]
I don’t know how to drive.
00:19:49 [Melissa]
I would definitely check that.
00:19:50 [Melissa]
Check that before you you do anything.
00:19:51 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:19:52 [Alison]
So when I send them that link, it auto displays in their time zone and then, of course, it’s working according to what I set it for my time zone.
00:19:59 [Alison]
So yeah.
00:20:00 [Alison]
So Calendly and then TaVE.
00:20:01 [Alison]
So TaVE just came out with their scheduler, like, what?
00:20:04 [Alison]
Six months ago, eight months ago?

00:20:05 [Alison]
Not even Yeah.

00:20:06 [Melissa]
It wasn’t long ago.
00:20:06 [Melissa]
And I I know they put it out for mini sessions and stuff, but you use it for I use

00:20:11 [Alison]
it for my gallery reveals.
00:20:13 [Alison]
So I used to just do this manually and say, hey, it’s time to schedule.
00:20:17 [Alison]
It was an automated email that I would send to my clients a week after we completed the photo session, and it would just say, hey.
00:20:24 [Alison]
I’m open.
00:20:25 [Alison]
These are my primary dates.

00:20:26 [Alison]
What works for you?
00:20:27 [Alison]
And so the initial of planning the gallery reveal was automated, but it was a manual process.
00:20:33 [Alison]
And then Tave came out with this, and I was like, oh, we’re gonna do this.
00:20:35 [Alison]
So because they’re a client already, they have a job, they’re booked within TaVE.
00:20:40 [Alison]
I can auto send that email seven days after their session.

00:20:44 [Alison]
And same as Calendly, it doesn’t let them book for seven days out.
00:20:48 [Alison]
So that’s my minimum project return time is two to three I say two to three weeks.
00:20:53 [Alison]
So if they open that email, the date was sent, the first thing they could do was they can only schedule seven days out.
00:20:58 [Alison]
So that would give me a minimum two weeks from their and so one thing Tave doesn’t have yet is displaying it in their current time zone.
00:21:06 [Alison]
So I do have a little note.

00:21:08 [Alison]
I have a whole thing of, hey.
00:21:09 [Alison]
This is what you can expect.
00:21:10 [Alison]
This is how long we’re gonna be together for.
00:21:13 [Alison]
These are the current time zone differences from Hawaii.

00:21:16 [Melissa]
Because it changes.

00:21:17 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:21:17 [Alison]
It changes.
00:21:18 [Alison]
And, also, Hawaii doesn’t do light saving daylight savings time, which we had one hiccup, but only one hiccup.
00:21:22 [Alison]
So it wasn’t so bad because of that.
00:21:24 [Alison]
And so then once they book, they can go see all the options.

00:21:27 [Alison]
They book.
00:21:28 [Alison]
It populates in my Tave calendar, which syncs to my Google Calendar.
00:21:31 [Alison]
And then because it’s Tave and I’m paying for it, I can do multiple reminders.
00:21:35 [Alison]
So they have a reminder to book if they haven’t booked, scheduled it.
00:21:38 [Alison]
They get a reminder to, I think, two days out, they or four days out, they get a reminder.

00:21:44 [Alison]
And then four hours out, they’re like, hey.
00:21:46 [Alison]
Don’t forget.
00:21:46 [Alison]
We’re getting together again.
00:21:50 [Alison]
So Yeah.
00:21:50 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:21:50 [Melissa]
That’s so those are just a couple.
00:21:52 [Melissa]
And if you check your CRM, you may find, depending on who it is, if they’ve got a calendar tool and stuff like that.
00:21:57 [Melissa]
Basically, those are just some of the the ways that, like, we use these tools and we use them to block our calendar.
00:22:02 [Melissa]
And like Allison said Mhmm.

00:22:03 [Alison]
I wrote

00:22:03 [Melissa]
on into the habit too that as soon as I have one appointment for the kids, I put it on my Google Calendar, and then I make sure to mark it as busy time.
00:22:10 [Melissa]
So that’s the little secret thing.
00:22:12 [Melissa]
Do not forget and leave it as free time.
00:22:14 [Melissa]
Mark it as busy or else you could find yourself double booked.
00:22:17 [Melissa]
And a lot of times the I think if something books through TidyCal, it will mark it as busy itself.

00:22:21 [Melissa]
It’s the ones that you do yourself where you’re like, oh, don’t have an appointment, and you forget to hit that drop down.

00:22:25 [Alison]
This is a good little note because it took me quite a while to find that little feature.
00:22:30 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:22:31 [Alison]
So when you’re I use Google when you’re creating an event and it says free, that means it will let you double book.
00:22:37 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:22:38 [Alison]
So click the busy.

00:22:39 [Alison]
Yes.

00:22:40 [Melissa]
So when you’re setting, like, your kids’ days off and stuff like that, you still need to set them, like, hey, it’s an all day event, and it’s busy for me.
00:22:47 [Melissa]
Because if you don’t set it as that, it will leave it as free.
00:22:50 [Melissa]
And then like Allison said, you’re gonna end up with a meeting while you’re at the doctor’s office.

00:22:53 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:22:54 [Alison]
And here’s another little mil spouse pro tip.
00:22:57 [Alison]
Every October, every command comes out with the next fiscal year’s 96 Liberty schedule.
00:23:03 [Alison]
So ask your husband for this fiscal year Liberty schedule, and it is a piece of paper.
00:23:09 [Alison]
I have mine in my calendar and go through a block off every 72, every 96 for every holiday from the entire year.

00:23:17 [Alison]
So back in October, I did it all through 2025.
00:23:20 [Alison]
It’s completely blocked off.

00:23:21 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:23:21 [Melissa]
I block off government holidays because I know my husband will be home.
00:23:24 [Melissa]
And then I basically tell him, like, if you are planning to take a day off of work because you wanna hang out with me, you have to let me know ahead of time.
00:23:30 [Melissa]
And I was like, not because I’m being a jerk, but, like, there you go.

00:23:33 [Alison]
You need to submit that

00:23:34 [Melissa]
in writing.
00:23:34 [Melissa]
I prefer seventy two hours in advance at the very least, three weeks in advance.

00:23:38 [Alison]
Oh, taking a week at least.

00:23:41 [Melissa]
But it’s what it is.
00:23:41 [Melissa]
Like, I don’t want him to be like, hey, I took the day off.
00:23:44 [Melissa]
Let’s go have lunch or do something.
00:23:45 [Melissa]
And I’m like, it’s Tuesday.
00:23:46 [Melissa]
I have a meeting.

00:23:47 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:23:48 [Melissa]
No.
00:23:48 [Melissa]
That’s the reason though, Mondays.

00:23:50 [Alison]
No You have Mondays and Fridays that are available to you, sir.

00:23:53 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:23:53 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:23:54 [Melissa]
You need to keep your days off to those particular days.
00:23:56 [Melissa]
Outside of that, that’s what worries.
00:23:58 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:23:58 [Alison]
That’s hilarious.
00:23:58 [Alison]
Okay.
00:23:59 [Alison]
And then one more little pro tip, those reoccurring tasks that have been every single week or every single month, use Google Calendar tasks.
00:24:06 [Alison]
Or whatever calendar you’re using, use your tasks.
00:24:08 [Alison]
Set them up as repeating.

00:24:09 [Alison]
Give them if you want to.
00:24:10 [Alison]
That’s been really helpful to me with the really annoying marketing things, like updating your GMB or submitting to blog circles or creating content, like batching my content, and then, oh, I forgot about it.
00:24:22 [Alison]
It’s expired.
00:24:24 [Alison]
Like, I’ve run out of content already.
00:24:25 [Alison]
I need to go back in and log that in.

00:24:27 [Alison]
That’s recurring stuff.
00:24:28 [Alison]
Or, hey.
00:24:29 [Alison]
Every month, file your taxes, schedule a pedicure, make appointments, whatever you need to do.
00:24:34 [Alison]
I feel

00:24:34 [Melissa]
like right now, I’m already coming up.
00:24:36 [Melissa]
We’re gonna do a planning meeting after this, but I’m thinking we need a Financial Fridays post or up.
00:24:41 [Melissa]
So we need, like, a marketing Monday, and we need an automations one.
00:24:45 [Melissa]
Because when you were talking about automations, I was like, oh, that’s a really good one to talk about.
00:24:48 [Melissa]
Because Allison and I are big on automations within our businesses, even just in our client correspondence and stuff like that, guys.

00:24:55 [Melissa]
So that Under the person.

00:24:57 [Alison]
Person.
00:24:57 [Alison]
Oh, yes.
00:24:58 [Alison]
Let’s do it.
00:24:59 [Alison]
Alright.
00:24:59 [Alison]
Well, so you have anything to add about your time blocking?

00:25:02 [Melissa]
Nope.
00:25:02 [Melissa]
I do work.
00:25:03 [Melissa]
I promise you that.
00:25:04 [Melissa]
But Yeah.
00:25:05 [Melissa]
Still trying to just take You do work.

00:25:06 [Melissa]
Just trying to protect your mental health.

00:25:08 [Alison]
You’re really providing services.
00:25:10 [Alison]
I promise.

00:25:11 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:25:11 [Melissa]
Just because I don’t take meetings so much doesn’t mean I’m not working.
00:25:13 [Melissa]
It just means I don’t have to worry about my hair and makeup on those days.

00:25:16 [Alison]
Amen.
00:25:17 [Alison]
Alright, guys.
00:25:17 [Alison]
Thanks for listening.
00:25:18 [Alison]
Until next time.
00:25:19 [Alison]
Bye bye.

00:25:24 [Melissa]
Thank you so much for listening.
00:25:25 [Melissa]
If you’re enjoying the show, would you do two things for us?
00:25:28 [Melissa]
First, leave a review.
00:25:29 [Melissa]
Just stars would be awesome.
00:25:31 [Melissa]
And two, forward this episode to a biz bestie, no spouse, or anyone facing moving their business.

00:25:36 [Melissa]
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:25:39 [Melissa]
If you have questions, you can reach out to Allison on Instagram at alison belle photog, or you can find me, Melissa, in my Facebook group, Picture Perfect Rankings.
00:25:49 [Melissa]
Check the show notes for links, and we’re so excited to have you guys here.