EP 58: Quarter 2 2025 Update

00:00:00 Alison
On this episode, like with all, we’re going to review the previous quarter’s goals and kind of see where we landed on some of those things.
00:00:06 Alison
We’re gonna then get into our wins and celebrations.
00:00:08 Alison
And then at the very end, we’re gonna share with you our goals, for each side of the house for quarter two.
00:00:14 Alison
Hey, I’m Allison, family photographer, military spouse, and business mentor for photographers.

00:00:20 Melissa
And I’m also a military spouse, lifestyle newborn photographer, and SEO expert for photographers.
00:00:25 Melissa
Between the two of us, we have a combined twenty seven years in photography and have lived through nine business relocations.

00:00:31 Alison
We’ve coached each other through all these challenges privately on Marco Polo, and now we’re bringing our polos public.
00:00:36 Alison
On this podcast, we’ll give you actionable steps to help you keep it moving.
00:00:44 Alison
Alright, guys.
00:00:45 Alison
Welcome back.
00:00:45 Alison
You are going to love this episode because our quarterly updates are pretty darn popular.

00:00:51 Alison
And I think that’s because we’re all new myself.
00:00:53 Alison
So, this is our second quarterly update for 2025, where we’re gonna get in the weeds of the nitty gritty about running our businesses.
00:01:02 Alison
That’s plural because each Melissa and I are both photographers and educators.
00:01:07 Alison
So there’s two sides of the house on each of us.
00:01:09 Alison
There’s doubled efforts on all the fronts when it comes to marketing and sales and taxes and all the fun stuff.

00:01:16 Alison
So let’s go.
00:01:18 Alison
Alright.
00:01:18 Alison
Melissa, what you got?
00:01:19 Alison
How did q one go?

00:01:20 Melissa
Funny because I copied over our goals from our, like, the soda, and I was like, oh, yeah.
00:01:25 Melissa
Were those our goal?
00:01:26 Melissa
Those were my goal.
00:01:26 Melissa
Oh, yeah.
00:01:27 Melissa
I bought that.

00:01:28 Melissa
It was kinda funny.
00:01:28 Melissa
But, yeah, I had SEO education with TMA in January.
00:01:32 Melissa
It’s a motherhood anthology.
00:01:33 Melissa
I wanted to keep working on growing the blogging club.
00:01:36 Melissa
I had getting on other podcasts on my list as a goal, continuing to focus on our done for you services and group coaching, not launching any products or services, managing, you know, with my husband now being on his deployment, managing, like, the house, the business, my life, all of that.

00:01:53 Alison
Yeah.
00:01:53 Alison
That was so much.

00:01:54 Melissa
Yeah.
00:01:55 Melissa
The last was more personal projects around the house to decompress.
00:01:58 Melissa
So, so those were my goals.
00:01:59 Melissa
So we’ll hit your heels and then we’ll get into it.

00:02:02 Alison
Right.
00:02:02 Alison
Yeah.
00:02:02 Alison
Okay.
00:02:03 Alison
So I had raised my prices January 1.
00:02:06 Alison
So on that, it was a minimum 5%.

00:02:09 Alison
Some of it was 10% on the price, on the print side.
00:02:11 Alison
So not on the client facing necessarily the website side, but on the back end, all those everything went up.
00:02:17 Alison
I was really interested in, streamlining my ordering process.
00:02:20 Alison
So I felt like I was constantly in the back end placing client orders and all over the place.
00:02:25 Alison
So we’re batching that into recent episodes.

00:02:27 Alison
You know how we’re into time blocking and batching.
00:02:30 Alison
So that’s now placing orders on one day of the week.
00:02:33 Alison
And, also, it’s kind of an incentivized clients to get those edits and designs approved quickly.
00:02:40 Alison
And then I wanted to continue the blackout week as my husband travels because he typically is gone once a month.
00:02:45 Alison
And it’s just like you were saying, like, with your husband deployed, like, it’s just easier to just be mom for a minute, but not worry about the back and forth and the logistics of also working.

00:02:55 Alison
But we were also considering adapting because he was supposed to have two or three weeks of travel for q two, and that’s gonna be an interesting I can’t wait to tell you how that went because that just happened.
00:03:07 Alison
That’s currently happening.
00:03:09 Alison
So yeah.
00:03:09 Alison
And then planning to do many sessions in q two, and then I also wanted to create a new lead magnet on the mentoring side of the house.
00:03:16 Alison
So a new lead magnet kind of getting geared up for other things and focusing on some other things that I think might be exciting, and then maintain blogging and my Instagram stuff.

00:03:25 Alison
Just trying to keep that at a steady pace, just keeping it going.
00:03:29 Alison
So yeah.
00:03:30 Alison
So how did it how did it turn out for you?

00:03:32 Melissa
K.
00:03:33 Melissa
So my teammate education month went great.
00:03:35 Melissa
And, actually, I think that along with the fact that, you know, I’ve been running my business for years.
00:03:40 Melissa
If you’ve been running your business even, like, two years, you wear, like, a ton of hats when it comes to marketing and stuff.
00:03:46 Melissa
And I don’t think a lot of people realize, like, you have a lot of experience that other people will pay for, kind of

00:03:51 Alison
thing, if

00:03:51 Melissa
it comes to that with marketing.
00:03:53 Melissa
So I actually took on a position with the Motherhood Anthology, kind of behind the scenes as their chief marketing officer.
00:03:59 Melissa
So I don’t work I’m not full time with them.
00:04:01 Melissa
It’s just like a consulting type thing, but I really love it.
00:04:04 Melissa
Like, their website launch and the scavenger hunt, like, that was stuff that that we did, that I did and everything, and that went really well.

00:04:10 Melissa
So it’s really fun.
00:04:11 Melissa
I’m also I like going in and fixing problems.
00:04:14 Melissa
And so being able to go in and, you know, fix some things for them is really nice because it’s like behind the scenes stuff that, you know, you don’t always get a chance to work on.
00:04:22 Melissa
Still working on growing the blogging club.
00:04:23 Melissa
So when I talk about goals, we’ll talk more about that.

00:04:25 Melissa
It’s it’s just ongoing.
00:04:27 Melissa
It’s not going quite as quick, you know, as big as I want it to be and stuff.
00:04:31 Melissa
And so I’m just trying to figure out how to make it better.
00:04:33 Melissa
I’ve done nothing as far as, like, podcast blog posts.
00:04:36 Melissa
That’s comforting.

00:04:37 Melissa
Honestly, that feels good.
00:04:38 Melissa
Because That is one of those as much as I preach about blogging and stuff like that, I feel like terrible person when I’m like, I can’t even get podcast blog posts up.
00:04:46 Melissa
But I’m trying to figure out a way to, like, streamline it.
00:04:49 Melissa
Like, exactly what do I want those posts to be?
00:04:51 Melissa
Because some people just throw up show notes, and I don’t wanna do that.

00:04:54 Melissa
Some people just throw up, like, a transcript.
00:04:55 Melissa
I don’t wanna just do that.
00:04:57 Melissa
So I really need to sit down and think about it.

00:04:59 Alison
Do you intend to do keyword research for each of those episodes?

00:05:02 Melissa
Yeah.
00:05:03 Melissa
That’s kind of the idea is I they Mhmm.
00:05:04 Melissa
You know, I know they’re great episodes, and I know there’s great keywords in them that can drive traffic and stuff.
00:05:09 Melissa
I legit just have not had the time this quarter Yeah.
00:05:12 Melissa
To do it.

00:05:13 Melissa
So I’ve also got on here, like, finding things behind the scenes with my team on, like, what projects they’re doing.
00:05:18 Melissa
We implemented a task management system that’s making things a lot easier so I know where things are.
00:05:23 Melissa
And then, honestly, I’ve been re I will say this.
00:05:26 Melissa
I have been really, really good about on the weekends turning off work and, like, not checking emails Yeah.
00:05:32 Melissa
Not not giving a crap on a weekend.

00:05:34 Alison
We had a whole conversation on Polo about that, about getting out of email and, like, how do we do it?

00:05:39 Melissa
Yeah.
00:05:39 Melissa
Yeah.
00:05:39 Melissa
And so I’ve been really good about that.
00:05:41 Melissa
And so I’ve been doing a lot of house projects while my husband’s been gone.
00:05:44 Melissa
And it’s cold, you know, here in Virginia.

00:05:45 Melissa
Nobody wants to go out now.
00:05:46 Melissa
I mean, now it’s getting better, but in the first quarter.
00:05:49 Melissa
And so, like, I went from you know, we just when we moved in last year, we just dropped furniture into places and said, okay.
00:05:56 Melissa
We’re good.
00:05:56 Melissa
And then, like, maybe I hung some curtains, maybe I hung some photos.

00:05:59 Melissa
But now I’ve actually gone in and, like, painted and painted furniture that was on the to do list, and I’m adding cabinets to the dining room and, like, you know, I’ve got all these projects.
00:06:08 Melissa
I feel like at this point, I’m like, what is it?
00:06:10 Melissa
From It’s Wonderful Life where they talk about Mary and how she she was putting around doing prod projects, turning the whole Granfield mansion into a home.
00:06:17 Melissa
I feel like Oh, yes.
00:06:19 Melissa
Feel like I’m, like, turning our house from just a place we live into, like, a cozy and inviting home.

00:06:24 Melissa
So

00:06:24 Alison
And that’s and that’s helping my mental well-being.
00:06:27 Alison
100%.
00:06:28 Alison
Getting out of business, I found having hard boundaries around my own business and email made me more eager to go back to it instead of stressed when it was time.

00:06:37 Melissa
Yeah.
00:06:37 Melissa
I mean, I’m getting a point now.
00:06:38 Melissa
If it’s, like, a three day weekend, by the time that third day rolls around, I’m like, I don’t wanna go back to work tomorrow.
00:06:42 Melissa
Yeah.
00:06:42 Melissa
Like, I’m fully in, like, chill out mode.

00:06:44 Melissa
I don’t wanna get through to work mode.
00:06:46 Melissa
That’s new for you.

00:06:47 Alison
That’s that’s It’s very good.

00:06:49 Melissa
New for you.
00:06:50 Melissa
Yeah.
00:06:50 Melissa
So those are my those are, like, the things that have gone well.
00:06:53 Melissa
So what’s gone well for you?
00:06:54 Melissa
Because you’ve had some stuff.

00:06:56 Alison
Yeah.
00:06:56 Alison
So the new the new lead magnet is live.
00:06:59 Alison
And so it sounds like that’s one big task, guys.
00:07:01 Alison
But, like, when it talks about, like, a lead magnet, like, one, writing it, Two Yep.
00:07:05 Alison
Making it look pretty and creating it in Canva.

00:07:08 Alison
Three oh, hold on.
00:07:08 Alison
Back up.
00:07:09 Alison
Deciding what it’s gonna be.
00:07:10 Alison
Yeah.

00:07:11 Melissa
I was gonna say that.

00:07:11 Alison
It’s not what I intended it to be at all.
00:07:13 Alison
Yeah.
00:07:14 Alison
And then because I I was gonna do, like, a three to five day mini course, like, a free mini course.
00:07:19 Alison
It’s and then I just felt like that’s much.
00:07:21 Alison
It’s overwhelming.

00:07:22 Alison
It’s probably not gonna it may not solve anybody’s actual problem.
00:07:26 Alison
I don’t know the kind of people I was looking for.
00:07:28 Alison
And so I just did something simple, a list.
00:07:30 Alison
It’s 39 ways to get new clients and they’re all free.
00:07:34 Alison
39, guys.

00:07:35 Alison
Like, when

00:07:35 Melissa
I started out, I was like, maybe I

00:07:36 Alison
can get to 20.
00:07:37 Alison
I got to 39.
00:07:38 Alison
And then there’s another six that are bonus ones for paid ways to get new clients.
00:07:42 Alison
They’re not all simple, but they all are free.
00:07:44 Alison
So anyway, that’s live.

00:07:45 Alison
It’s up.
00:07:46 Alison
You can find it on Instagram.
00:07:47 Alison
You can find it on my website, alisonbelt.co.
00:07:49 Alison
I got several blog posts, from Mint about Nice.
00:07:53 Alison
Our podcast, but also some I really focused on the big keywords.

00:07:56 Alison
I did a lot of keyword research previously, probably six months ago.
00:08:00 Alison
Went back into that database and I was like, okay.
00:08:02 Alison
What are my big ticket ones that I really want to be on top of?
00:08:06 Alison
Right?
00:08:06 Alison
Like, I wanna be a top result for, and it’s gonna take time.

00:08:08 Alison
So I wanted to do those first and let that bake in.
00:08:11 Alison
And so I got them done.
00:08:12 Alison
I got them done.
00:08:14 Alison
Now I haven’t done much for the app.
00:08:15 Alison
Like, as far as episodes go, they Mhmm.

00:08:17 Alison
I think I referenced different episodes in those blog posts.
00:08:20 Alison
Yeah.
00:08:21 Alison
Those blog posts were more about photography, the benefits, what a mentor, you know, like just bigger, more general things.
00:08:28 Alison
Yeah.
00:08:29 Alison
Average sales are up.

00:08:33 Melissa
And that’s because you made a change, Mhmm.

00:08:35 Alison
Like Yeah.
00:08:35 Alison
So In q

00:08:36 Melissa
one, right?

00:08:37 Alison
Yeah.
00:08:37 Alison
So pivoting over to the photography side, January 1, I raised my prices five to 10% across the board on print and average sales up, just this week.
00:08:47 Alison
So I have a sliding scale as well.
00:08:48 Alison
I’ve had the sliding scale for a while to incentivize the entire digital download of their gallery.
00:08:54 Alison
So not just what they choose to print, but the entire however many are in there.

00:08:58 Alison
And I’ve had two people in the last month reach that high goal.
00:09:02 Alison
So I’ve had some of the biggest sales ever in q one.
00:09:05 Alison
Nice.
00:09:05 Alison
Yeah.
00:09:06 Alison
That’ll bring up the average, but also I haven’t had any super low sales.

00:09:09 Alison
So I one of the things that I recognized last summer was that it’s getting a lot of people who just didn’t read emails, didn’t see the a la carte guide, were shocked when they got to their gallery reveal, and therefore had really, really low average sales.
00:09:23 Alison
Haven’t experienced that at all.
00:09:24 Alison
I mean, I’ve had a one off pretty low sale, but it wasn’t nearly the same as Yeah.

00:09:29 Melissa
But, well, that was also because you changed up you’re charging a print credit ahead of time.
00:09:33 Melissa
Right?

00:09:34 Alison
Yes.
00:09:34 Alison
So that happened so the print credit ahead of time, that happened September here.

00:09:38 Melissa
Okay.

00:09:39 Alison
And then I raised my print prices January 1, and I removed some of my lowest ticket items and made them exclusive to my collection.
00:09:49 Alison
So the lowest ticket items that made people, I think, really, like, interested, there were people who were really interested in, they they’re still available, but you have to buy the collection to get them.
00:09:57 Alison
Well, and

00:09:57 Melissa
I think with your by putting that print credit in that they’re kind of prepaying for, it also eliminates people who were like, well, I didn’t wanna spend that much.
00:10:03 Melissa
And you’re like, well, you’re guaranteed to spend this much.
00:10:06 Melissa
And if you don’t, well, I’m not the person for you.
00:10:08 Melissa
So you and you’re set so now you you’re dropping off a portion of what may have been your audience before because they’re like, well, we didn’t wanna spend that.
00:10:15 Melissa
Now you’re like, you’re gonna spend this.

00:10:16 Melissa
And then prices are a little bit higher.
00:10:18 Melissa
So it’s like, okay.
00:10:19 Melissa
You know, you can spend more.

00:10:20 Alison
Yeah.
00:10:20 Alison
And then that so that 5 hundreds upfront, but then when they get back to the gallery reveal or they see the print prices, I’m like, hey.
00:10:27 Alison
You know, I get off the phone with them.
00:10:28 Alison
Like, hey.
00:10:29 Alison
I’m sending you this over sending this over to you.

00:10:31 Alison
But remember, that’s $500 less.
00:10:33 Alison
Those are the final prices for those items.
00:10:35 Alison
So just doc 500 off of everything.
00:10:37 Alison
And I think by the time we get to the reveal, execute the session, get to the reveal, they’re ready to money, spent some money forgotten.

00:10:43 Melissa
Right.
00:10:43 Melissa
And so

00:10:43 Alison
that’s, that’s why I did that.

00:10:45 Melissa
Hey fellow photographers, Melissa Arlena here.
00:10:48 Melissa
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00:10:50 Melissa
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00:10:52 Melissa
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00:10:54 Melissa
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00:11:01 Melissa
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00:11:06 Melissa
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00:11:18 Melissa
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00:11:23 Melissa
Let’s get your calendar booked.
00:11:26 Melissa
No.

00:11:27 Melissa
I’m glad that’s working out really well.

00:11:28 Alison
Yeah.
00:11:28 Alison
Yeah.
00:11:28 Alison
It’s going really well.
00:11:29 Alison
And then also because of September, because I put that print credit on, I’ve got much warmer inquiry calls.
00:11:35 Alison
So I’m at all and very few calls where people are kind of shocked, like, or don’t understand print credit or print prices.

00:11:42 Alison
Yeah.
00:11:42 Alison
I’m a bit right now and then, but not often as it did.
00:11:45 Alison
And so as far as kind of family life balance, we have I have previously just taken a blackout week for my own mental health when Colin travels, but Colin had three it was we didn’t know, honestly, with Doge and everything going on, the guy that was supposed to he was supposed to go to Australia for a week or two, and he was would have been gone for a total of two and a half to three weeks.
00:12:07 Alison
Had right.
00:12:08 Alison
And so I was bracing for the worst.

00:12:10 Alison
Not sure if I could if I could book these sessions or not because we didn’t know if Colin was going, somebody had to go.
00:12:15 Alison
And then then then we didn’t know until a week before.
00:12:17 Alison
Like, it’s literally Tuesday.
00:12:19 Alison
And Colin’s like, if I have to go, I leave for Australia this Saturday.
00:12:22 Alison
I’m not prepared.

00:12:23 Alison
But the guy in this office was supposed to go and he hadn’t had clearance yet or approval.
00:12:28 Alison
And so

00:12:29 Melissa
I can’t take two and a half weeks off in the middle of spring break season.
00:12:32 Melissa
Yeah.
00:12:32 Melissa
Oh, gosh.
00:12:33 Melissa
That’s something I forget about the it’s spring break season for you.

00:12:37 Alison
It’s spring break season.
00:12:38 Alison
And so I just I was like, I can’t can’t.
00:12:40 Alison
And people are booking me.
00:12:40 Alison
They want they’re calling me.
00:12:41 Alison
Like, what do I tell them, Colin?

00:12:43 Alison
And so we came up with this strategy of, like, okay, once a week or two and a half weeks, the boys can go to school late.
00:12:50 Alison
You know, like the sunrise is early enough that by the time I get there, I execute a thirty minute session, come back.
00:12:56 Alison
If the boys are an hour late to school, no big deal.
00:12:58 Alison
Like, it’s it’s not a big deal.
00:13:00 Alison
Even twice.

00:13:01 Alison
If and and depending on where the session was and how many sessions I actually booked, like, I can we could possibly do that twice a week while he’s gone.
00:13:09 Alison
Cool.
00:13:09 Alison
No big deal.
00:13:10 Alison
That was the plan.
00:13:13 Alison
Well, he ended up not going to Australia, which was fantastic, worked for me.

00:13:16 Alison
But the week he is gone right now, he is off island and turns out this week with school, there is standardized testing for all of them.
00:13:25 Alison
And this week with school, my oldest or my oldest there has a music fest at another school.
00:13:32 Alison
And so for the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of this week, they can’t be late because they’re he’s gonna miss the bus to take them across island to this conference they’re doing.

00:13:41 Melissa
It’s like the best laid plans.
00:13:43 Melissa
And then it’s like, no, no, let me fix that for you.

00:13:45 Alison
Uh-huh.
00:13:46 Alison
And not only not only is this the week they cannot be last week, I booked a session.
00:13:54 Alison
That’s the furthest away I’ve ever I’ve ever shot.
00:13:56 Alison
And I had nothing on I had nothing on the calendar.
00:13:59 Alison
Didn’t realize it was standardized testing.

00:14:01 Alison
Didn’t realize, like, I knew Colin was gonna be gone, but I just like, you know what?
00:14:05 Alison
The kids are just gonna be really late to school this day.
00:14:07 Alison
Uh-huh.
00:14:07 Alison
It’s fine.
00:14:08 Alison
Because I need I I I want the session.

00:14:11 Alison
I’d never shot here before.
00:14:12 Alison
It’s the house.
00:14:13 Alison
It was at a house, an Airbnb that’s right on Bonsai Pipeline.
00:14:17 Alison
So there’s very little nice public beach out there, very little parking.
00:14:21 Alison
So unless you’re going to somebody’s house, like it’s, it’s pretty exclusive area, right?

00:14:25 Alison
Like it’s on the same block as Volcom and Billabong’s professional surf houses.
00:14:29 Alison
So if that says anything, it was pretty awesome.
00:14:31 Alison
And it was worth it, but I just booked it last week.
00:14:33 Alison
And so it was about an hour and ten minutes from my house.
00:14:35 Alison
One way.

00:14:37 Alison
On one of these days, Colin’s not here and the kids can’t be late to school.
00:14:41 Alison
So small panic attack.
00:14:42 Alison
Also, one of my kids had an injury and Murphy’s law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
00:14:48 Alison
We had an appointment last week, spawned three appointments this week for imaging and specialist appointments that today’s Thursday.
00:14:56 Alison
Yesterday was Wednesday.

00:14:57 Alison
I genuinely thought on the phone with the client that yesterday was Friday.
00:15:01 Alison
Genuinely thought I’m tapped out at two weeks in one.
00:15:04 Alison
So Yeah.
00:15:05 Alison
That’s how that went.
00:15:06 Alison
So best laid plans just but I’m just really grateful for our community.

00:15:10 Alison
People helped me out.
00:15:11 Alison
Everything got done.
00:15:12 Alison
It’s over.
00:15:13 Alison
Yeah.

00:15:14 Melissa
I was actually right before we were recording, I was panicking.
00:15:16 Melissa
We were able to record this episode because I was supposed to have a session tonight, and then it’s rescheduled for rain.
00:15:22 Melissa
And I rescheduled it for a Wednesday because I was like, well, Thursday we podcast, and I’m I just feel like it’s too much stress to have the two Yeah.
00:15:28 Melissa
Have a session and podcasting.
00:15:29 Melissa
And then I realized I scheduled the session while my kid has football practice, and I was like, oh my Oh, that’s why.

00:15:35 Melissa
Well, that’s why I wasn’t supposed to give a Wednesday.
00:15:37 Melissa
So then I’m texting my mom.
00:15:39 Melissa
Can you drive to Charlottesville and come stay with us for a night so that you could take him to football?
00:15:44 Melissa
So, like, this is what happens when husbands aren’t around and, like, you’re solo parenting.
00:15:48 Melissa
Like, we have it together, like, 85% of the way.

00:15:52 Melissa
And then it’s that 15% that just You just can’t plan for

00:15:55 Alison
you just you just can’t plan for everything.
00:15:58 Alison
So one of the other goals was several blog posts up for photography because my SEO rankings had dropped.
00:16:04 Alison
I got a little complacent and hadn’t shared any new content in several months.
00:16:08 Alison
And well, when you’re at the top, everybody’s coming for you.
00:16:11 Alison
So I dropped, still in the top 10, but I was about six or seven at one point.

00:16:15 Alison
And now we got some few, a few things up scheduled, you know, batch creating that as well, schedule them out, getting into blog circles as well.
00:16:22 Alison
Just getting, getting SEO pumped up for that.
00:16:25 Alison
And, that works.
00:16:26 Alison
Doing good.
00:16:27 Alison
We’re back up to one.

00:16:27 Alison
Kinda depends on the day of the week, but I’m one or five.
00:16:30 Alison
One or five.
00:16:31 Alison
So at least I keep going back to one and I’m okay with that.
00:16:33 Alison
But yeah.
00:16:34 Alison
So they’re they’re balancing all over the place.

00:16:36 Alison
So we’re there and it’s working.
00:16:37 Alison
So that’s a lot.
00:16:38 Alison
As far as challenges and lessons learned.

00:16:41 Melissa
Yeah.
00:16:41 Melissa
For me, oh, I will say January has typically been, like, my biggest month, and we were down, like, 30% in January.
00:16:50 Melissa
Woah.
00:16:50 Melissa
Yeah.
00:16:51 Melissa
I was like, oh god.

00:16:52 Melissa
Oh god.
00:16:53 Melissa
Is this what is this what this is gonna be this year?
00:16:56 Melissa
Like, last year was great.
00:16:57 Melissa
The year before that was great.
00:16:58 Melissa
Like, is this the year that the bottom falls down?

00:17:00 Melissa
Like, I was all, like, sky is falling.
00:17:02 Melissa
Like, obviously, the world’s over kinda thing.
00:17:04 Melissa
And it was down also for February, but it was only down, like, 10% in February.
00:17:09 Melissa
So it wasn’t quite but then we were up for March, like, and did the most I’ve ever done in business.
00:17:14 Melissa
So Wow.

00:17:15 Melissa
It, like so we were 30% up in February in in March.
00:17:18 Melissa
So it, like now I’m balancing out.
00:17:20 Melissa
Now I’m like, okay.
00:17:20 Melissa
I’m only 10% down.
00:17:21 Melissa
Yeah.

00:17:22 Melissa
Like, it’s it’s we’re doing good.
00:17:24 Melissa
So there’s still room to, like, get better and everything, but that that was probably the biggest, like, challenge that had happened.
00:17:29 Melissa
And then obviously just dealing with scheduling stuff.
00:17:31 Melissa
So what about for you?

00:17:32 Alison
Yeah.
00:17:33 Alison
I think, challenges.
00:17:34 Alison
Like, we made, we made the best plans for working through college travel, and then it just Yeah.

00:17:40 Melissa
You just

00:17:41 Alison
can’t everything.
00:17:41 Alison
You just can’t.
00:17:42 Alison
Like, that that was that was that.
00:17:45 Alison
Print credits working, the pivoting, average sale, all that stuff, it’s it’s going really well over there.
00:17:50 Alison
So for q two, what you got planned?

00:17:52 Alison
So q two is what?
00:17:54 Alison
April, May, June?

00:17:55 Melissa
April, May, June.
00:17:56 Melissa
Yeah.
00:17:56 Melissa
April, May, June.
00:17:56 Melissa
So we’re recording this the April, and I think it’s gonna air in May.
00:18:01 Melissa
So for me, I am like I said, with blogging club, I love blogging club.

00:18:05 Melissa
I really wanna help photographers blog.
00:18:07 Melissa
I also understand that I’m a weird person and that I like blogging.
00:18:11 Melissa
Like, I’m

00:18:12 Alison
I I like it because of what it does for me.

00:18:14 Melissa
Well, yeah.
00:18:15 Melissa
Yeah.
00:18:15 Melissa
It’s like it.
00:18:16 Melissa
I don’t blogging doesn’t bother me.
00:18:18 Melissa
Like, I’ve been, I mean, I go back to the days where we used to blog every day of the week.

00:18:22 Melissa
Like Oh.
00:18:23 Melissa
I first started, I was blogging every single day of the week.
00:18:27 Melissa
So now to, like, blog two or three times a month, I’m like, oh, girl, that is nothing.
00:18:31 Melissa
Yeah.
00:18:32 Melissa
I have to blog every single day.

00:18:34 Melissa
So I know people hate blogging.
00:18:35 Melissa
And, like, I’m trying to make it easy because I know, like, how much it can do for your business and stuff.
00:18:40 Melissa
Mhmm.
00:18:40 Melissa
And so I’m trying to figure out how to work some AI tools into the blogging club.
00:18:44 Melissa
Really help make blogging easier for photographers, but still make it sound like them and share their stories and not have a bot write it.

00:18:51 Melissa
Because, actually, I just saw some, search engine land had an article this week that was posted in a bunch of my SEO groups that says Google is now looking at AI created content, and their raters are, like like, down voting it kind of thing.
00:19:04 Melissa
And so the question is, this is probably more for, like, massive scale where, like, you have those scam websites that’ll do a 100 posts a day, and they’re all AI.
00:19:13 Melissa
So I don’t think it’s gonna hit photographers as much.
00:19:15 Melissa
But I sympathize as the fact that as a small business owner and with a close relationship with your clients, you’ve gotta have stories and personal connections in your blog post.
00:19:23 Melissa
So but I’m trying to figure out how do I balance that, like Yeah.

00:19:26 Melissa
To make it known.

00:19:27 Alison
How do they know it’s AI generated?

00:19:29 Melissa
Well, to be honest, I feel like I can tell AI generated because they’re dry and boring.
00:19:33 Melissa
Mhmm.
00:19:34 Melissa
Like, it’s very the facts are there.
00:19:35 Melissa
You know, like here like, Easter events in the area.
00:19:38 Melissa
Here’s the facts of where the places are, but there’s not a single story in there about, like, oh, this would be great for a two to three year old because I have one, and I know they like this, and they’re doing they like Bluey, and they’re gonna have Bluey impersonators there.

00:19:49 Melissa
Like, that kind of stuff is what’s missing from those.
00:19:52 Melissa
And so that’s where, like, your personal connection comes into play.
00:19:56 Melissa
So that to me is the biggest thing.
00:19:57 Melissa
Like, I can immediately tell who’s written a blog post.
00:20:00 Melissa
And now I will say, you can use AI to write it, and then you go back in and, like, add all that stuff.

00:20:06 Melissa
Yeah.
00:20:06 Melissa
And that’s gonna that’s gonna change things up.
00:20:08 Melissa
And so the idea isn’t that if you use AI to assist you with writing, that’s okay.
00:20:14 Melissa
If you’re just asking it to write it for you and you’re copying and pasting, like, that’s the bad part.
00:20:17 Melissa
So I’m trying to make it that we can use AI to assist you in writing in the blogging club and make it easier to, like, just try and get past that.

00:20:25 Melissa
Get people like, okay.
00:20:26 Melissa
We’re gonna do this.
00:20:27 Melissa
But I feel like I’m not hitting the mark maybe on, like, my age or something about Mhmm.
00:20:31 Melissa
What it can do for you.
00:20:32 Melissa
So that’s that’s a goal is to keep working on those AI tools.

00:20:34 Melissa
I’ve got some girls who are testing it right now in the club, and so we’re gonna see how that goes, and then I’ll add that stuff in there.
00:20:42 Melissa
Getting on some more podcasts.
00:20:43 Melissa
I have a list that I need to start reaching out to.
00:20:46 Melissa
Y’all, I I I told Allison this.
00:20:47 Melissa
I was like, I was really surprised.

00:20:49 Melissa
If you Google, like, photography podcast on, like, on Apple I guess not Google it, but, you know, if you search Yeah.
00:20:54 Melissa
Darby podcast, a lot of them are defunct.

00:20:57 Alison
There are a lot of military spouse ones.
00:20:59 Alison
I mean Yeah.
00:21:00 Alison
02/1003 to ‘1 was, like, 2020.
00:21:03 Alison
Hadn’t been updated.

00:21:04 Melissa
Like, it’s not the first results.

00:21:06 Alison
There were only eight results total.

00:21:07 Melissa
That was what got me as it was, like, first results page, you know, like and I’m like, wait.
00:21:11 Melissa
This one’s not around.
00:21:12 Melissa
This one’s not around.
00:21:12 Melissa
This one’s not around.
00:21:13 Melissa
And I was like, well, darn.

00:21:15 Melissa
I mean, good lord.
00:21:16 Melissa
We’re around.
00:21:17 Melissa
Yeah.
00:21:17 Melissa
Was that an apple, you said?
00:21:18 Melissa
I think it was an Apple that I searched.

00:21:20 Alison
So it was definitely an Apple for me.
00:21:22 Alison
I wonder if we switched searched in Spotify, if we’d have better results.

00:21:25 Melissa
Oh, maybe.
00:21:26 Melissa
I’ll have to go over and do that because I’m trying to find more podcasts.
00:21:28 Melissa
So also, if you guys have a podcast that you love that you haven’t heard me on, I feel like I’ve done quite a few, send it over to me because I like doing podcasts.
00:21:36 Melissa
And then here’s something, mapping out the rest of the year’s marketing plan.
00:21:40 Melissa
So I know another educator, she had shared, like, that she was gonna be marketing different courses and things that she offered in her business, and she had, like, the weeks that she was gonna be doing it.

00:21:52 Melissa
And I was like, why have I not done this?
00:21:55 Melissa
Why have I not sat down and, like, instead of, like, I look at it, like, month to month, why am I not going?
00:22:00 Melissa
Okay.
00:22:00 Melissa
Hey.
00:22:00 Melissa
Year’s the time.

00:22:01 Melissa
I mean, my or Black Friday.
00:22:02 Melissa
I think we all put Black Friday on the count.
00:22:04 Melissa
Like, Black Friday was terrible last year.
00:22:05 Melissa
I’m doing, like, Black October this year or something.
00:22:07 Melissa
Like, something else.

00:22:09 Melissa
So I think, I think we all could be thinking about this.
00:22:12 Melissa
You know?
00:22:12 Melissa
Are you doing fall minis or holiday sessions?
00:22:14 Melissa
Like, put those on the calendar and then back it up to, like, when are they happening?
00:22:18 Melissa
When do we need to start marketing?

00:22:20 Melissa
What do I need to do?
00:22:21 Melissa
And, like, you know, back up your marketing and create a marketing plan for the year and not just for next month or this month.

00:22:28 Alison
One of our friends does that for Chris Sanamini.
00:22:31 Alison
Yeah.
00:22:31 Alison
You gotta have that date so early, but Yeah.

00:22:32 Melissa
In July.
00:22:33 Melissa
She starts marketing it in July.
00:22:35 Melissa
Yeah.
00:22:35 Melissa
So she’s already right now getting all the details and all of that stuff set up.
00:22:39 Melissa
So along with that, like, one of the things that I wanna do is, my business coach had recommended, like, a twenty four month refresh on all of my courses.

00:22:46 Melissa
And I was like, yeah.
00:22:47 Melissa
My keywords research course is, like, three years old, and I want to update it.
00:22:52 Melissa
I wanna update the spreadsheet that we have on it to make it easier, to be able to search more keywords, like, just to make it really awesome, and then relaunch it.
00:23:00 Melissa
If you already own the keywords research course, don’t worry.
00:23:03 Melissa
You’ll get the update for free.

00:23:04 Melissa
But I wanna do that.
00:23:05 Melissa
And then that kinda leads into, like, another goal.
00:23:07 Melissa
Speaking of Doge and stuff, my husband works for the government.
00:23:12 Melissa
He’s a government employee.
00:23:13 Melissa
He’s a retired marine corps, but government employee.

00:23:15 Melissa
And so he just got his master’s in December and, like, he wants to get a job in data science.
00:23:21 Melissa
And so he’s taken the whole early retirement from the government and which I think is good.
00:23:26 Melissa
It’s huge.
00:23:26 Melissa
He knows this.
00:23:27 Melissa
He and I have had the conversation.

00:23:28 Melissa
I’m like, if this isn’t the kick in the butt to get you to go find a data science program Yeah.
00:23:33 Melissa
You know, some kind of job.

00:23:34 Alison
What else is?

00:23:35 Melissa
With, like, a good severance, like, what else?
00:23:37 Melissa
Like, when else are you gonna do?
00:23:38 Melissa
Got, like, a golden opportunity here.
00:23:40 Melissa
And he loves data stuff, and he doesn’t do that for his current job.
00:23:43 Melissa
So he will be ho hopefully home this summer, which he’s gonna start helping me in the business and everything while he’s looking for another job.

00:23:51 Melissa
So he’s a big data guy.
00:23:52 Melissa
He’s a big spreadsheet guy.
00:23:53 Melissa
So I’m gonna give him that project to fit.
00:23:55 Melissa
Yay.
00:23:56 Melissa
And I promise y’all, it will be much better than what I have created, and I’m a little embarrassed when he looks at this.

00:24:02 Melissa
He’s going to be like horrified by my spreadsheet that has worked for hundreds of people, but

00:24:07 Alison
it’s still going to be simple enough for those that don’t just agree

00:24:10 Melissa
to use

00:24:11 Alison
it and understand it.
00:24:13 Alison
Earl, are you still struggling to get profitable?
00:24:15 Alison
Are you relaunching your business or trying to refine your profitability?
00:24:19 Alison
Allison here and I’ve been there.
00:24:20 Alison
As a military spouse for fifteen years, I’ve moved my photography business seven times, effectively launching a new business with each move.

00:24:26 Alison
I’ve never worked anywhere longer than three years.
00:24:28 Alison
I’ve had all inclusive hybrid and virtual IPS structures, and I know what it takes to adapt and thrive.
00:24:34 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.
00:24:41 Alison
If you’re ready to break through the roadblocks, attract dream clients, and finally see the profits you’ve longed for.
00:24:47 Alison
Let’s work together.

00:24:49 Alison
Visit alisonbell.co to learn more or DM me on the grant at keep it moving pod links in the show notes.
00:24:55 Alison
Let’s do this.

00:24:57 Melissa
Well, but that’s the idea.
00:24:58 Melissa
The idea is for him to take his master’s degree, put all the complicated stuff behind the scenes and make it as simple as possible for people to use.
00:25:07 Melissa
And so, so that’s the plan there.
00:25:09 Melissa
And then once we have the new spreadsheet, I’ll just have to rerecord us for it and everything and give it a refresh.
00:25:14 Melissa
So but I am excited to bring him into the business and everything and have him be my free employee for the summer.

00:25:22 Melissa
That’s awesome.
00:25:23 Melissa
So, yeah, so those are my q two goals.
00:25:24 Melissa
So we’ll see, guys.
00:25:25 Melissa
I could come back in q three and be like or I guess maybe it would be q four update.
00:25:30 Melissa
Probably q four update.

00:25:31 Melissa
If I come back then and I’m like, that didn’t work.
00:25:33 Melissa
You know?
00:25:34 Melissa
Like, I can be like, working with your spouse sucks.
00:25:37 Melissa
I’m thinking

00:25:37 Alison
we’re not.
00:25:38 Alison
My taxes with my spouse is enough for me to go, maybe not for us.

00:25:42 Melissa
Oh, don’t we’re not gonna talk about taxes.
00:25:44 Melissa
By the way, if anybody has a tax guy that they or tax person, doesn’t need to be a guy.
00:25:50 Melissa
I have apparently had the worst track record in picking accountants, and I need one.
00:25:54 Melissa
So if you know an accountant, especially if you know an accountant in the Charlottesville area, please send me their information because I am in the market for a new tax person.

00:26:02 Alison
Also, all accountants listening, she’s got really good ideas for automating some things.
00:26:06 Alison
So you need to listen up.
00:26:08 Alison
Alright.
00:26:09 Alison
So you had a lot going on.
00:26:11 Alison
I I didn’t have quite as much.

00:26:12 Alison
It was nice slow season in Hawaii.
00:26:14 Alison
January, February are a low month.
00:26:16 Alison
You know, people do a lot of traveling around the holidays and then they all go back to school and then spring break starts and, you know, spring break is tapered between grade school and college for a lot of so it’s a nice long season before it kind of actually, I was just looking at my calendar.
00:26:31 Alison
I have almost nothing booked for May, but that first week in June, there’s an inquiry for literally every day

00:26:36 Melissa
of the week.
00:26:36 Melissa
Oh, there you go.

00:26:37 Alison
Every single day.
00:26:38 Alison
So I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s crazy.

00:26:40 Melissa
So wait, are you gonna be the are you the type that’s like, I will go balls to the walls for a week to not work the rest of the month?

00:26:47 Alison
Yeah, I would totally do that.
00:26:49 Alison
That’s actually one of the, my considerations actually that’s written down here.
00:26:53 Alison
And so one of my big, one of my big goals, well, I guess working chronologically, I’m gonna do many sessions, but if any other sports parents out there understand, particularly with baseball, I don’t know why it’s a baseball thing.
00:27:04 Alison
The baseball schedule doesn’t come out until, like, a week before opening day, and opening day was this past week.
00:27:09 Alison
And so I have two boys on three teams in two different leagues.

00:27:14 Alison
Oh, fun.
00:27:15 Alison
Right?
00:27:15 Alison
This was not planned was not planned, but we cannot say no.
00:27:18 Alison
So, like, we can say no.
00:27:20 Alison
We needed to say yes.

00:27:22 Alison
Okay.
00:27:22 Alison
Let’s just clarify that.
00:27:24 Alison
And so we just got our baseball schedules.
00:27:26 Alison
And so schedules with soccer all affect when I’m available to do miniset.
00:27:29 Alison
So I’ve only just gotten those schedules this week.

00:27:33 Alison
And then, you know, with all the other things blowing up, I’ve not looked at it, but I’m planning to do many sessions May.
00:27:37 Alison
I think we also have some birthdays and mother’s days in there and all that stuff.
00:27:40 Alison
So many sessions are coming, but I did just get the idea.
00:27:43 Alison
I need to nurture my local email wait list a little, like, right now.
00:27:49 Alison
Like, I need to do, like, a six week, four week lead up, some that’s just nurturing, hey, local specific.

00:27:54 Alison
Like, hey, I’ve got value for you.
00:27:56 Alison
Here’s what’s going on.
00:27:57 Alison
And before I start hitting them with some sales and information about minis coming up, coming up.
00:28:01 Alison
And so I’m going to be doing that.
00:28:03 Alison
I’m thinking I will take three sessions a week in June, depending, you know, maybe five.

00:28:09 Alison
That’s a lot each week.

00:28:11 Melissa
I was thinking like work two weeks and take the rest off.
00:28:14 Melissa
So yeah, so whatever it’s,

00:28:15 Alison
you know, however, the bookings end up landing, I think I’m willing to go beyond my maximum two families a week because I intend to take July off.
00:28:24 Alison
That’s kind of in the middle of the heavy season.
00:28:26 Alison
So it’s kind of ironic that I wanna do that.
00:28:29 Alison
Mhmm.
00:28:29 Alison
But when you when you think about the family, it’s not.

00:28:32 Alison
Like, it’s soccer is down, baseball is down, my kids are on school.
00:28:36 Alison
And because last year was such a good year, I want to get back to South Carolina for a month if I want to.
00:28:41 Alison
We are going to space a, that’s the plan.
00:28:43 Alison
So we’re going to at least get a space a over to the West Coast and then fly cross country.
00:28:47 Alison
That’ll save me at least half

00:28:49 Melissa
of the money and

00:28:50 Alison
five airfares from Honolulu to the East Coast.
00:28:53 Alison
And so I’ve actually seen some some flights go all the way to the East Coast, and that would be phenomenal.
00:28:58 Alison
But I have signed up my kid for a d one baseball camp because he’s super stoked about that and working to get my other son into a d one soccer program because d one soccer doesn’t exist in the state of well, okay.
00:29:11 Alison
I take it back.
00:29:12 Alison
Doesn’t exist on the island Of Oahu.

00:29:14 Alison
University of Hawaii’s soccer program is in Hilo on the Big Island.
00:29:19 Alison
And quite honestly, I don’t, like, Hilo is a pretty small campus if I understand it correctly, so I’m not sure I don’t know if it’s the same caliber.

00:29:27 Melissa
So where’s the soccer camp?
00:29:28 Melissa
Is it at USC?

00:29:29 Alison
Yeah.
00:29:29 Alison
USC, Carolina.
00:29:30 Alison
Go game coach.
00:29:31 Alison
Well, I was

00:29:32 Melissa
gonna say, David’s taken the boys to a football camp at Clemson at when he comes of May.
00:29:36 Melissa
So they’re gonna be, like, a two day football camp.

00:29:38 Alison
That’s not

00:29:39 Melissa
You don’t need to do that.

00:29:40 Alison
I am shamelessly, shamelessly, and publicly buying my children’s affection for South Carolina, and I don’t say what you wanna say.
00:29:47 Alison
Say what you wanna say.
00:29:48 Alison
It’s I’m proud of it.
00:29:50 Alison
So on the other side, on the mentoring side, I’m taking my own advice about inquiry automation.
00:29:58 Alison
I realized that I had actually ghosted some of my own leads, not having a good follow-up system with that, just getting distracted in the busy season.

00:30:05 Alison
And so I’ve already emails, took our own advice, did exactly what we say to do, wrote that email once, hence save template and name that template, and we’ll refine it as it goes on.
00:30:15 Alison
So we’ve got the three three follow-up system ready to roll.
00:30:19 Alison
It’s just not automated yet, but it’s there.
00:30:21 Alison
So we need to, like, refine it a little bit before we start just auto checking that.
00:30:25 Alison
I need to be on some podcast too.

00:30:27 Alison
I need to do that.
00:30:27 Alison
I was on one or I was set up to scheduled to be on one that they just I guess the time zone thing being in Hawaii just did not work for wherever they were because she kept rescheduling.
00:30:37 Alison
Like, I’d get up and be like, and then all of a sudden, it wouldn’t be on the calendar, and they weren’t reaching out to me.
00:30:42 Alison
They weren’t explaining it.
00:30:42 Alison
They weren’t, you know, working with me to reschedule after the second time.

00:30:45 Alison
And I was like, okay, white flag, give up.
00:30:48 Alison
I also was looking at military spouse podcasts, and I think we just mentioned that they’re all defunct.
00:30:52 Alison
Every single one of them.

00:30:54 Melissa
So Are we at the end of podcasting or something?
00:30:56 Melissa
Like, everybody start it and then realize how much work it is.

00:31:01 Alison
It really is work.
00:31:02 Alison
Like, I I mean, I enjoy doing it.
00:31:04 Alison
I think this is fun.
00:31:05 Alison
But when I think about all the things I have to do and I’m putting aside to make Thursday’s work, like Yeah.
00:31:11 Alison
I’m really glad we’re only doing it every other week now.

00:31:13 Alison
Yeah.
00:31:14 Alison
We’ve definitely changed our

00:31:15 Melissa
I guess and that was something I guess that was kind of podcast goal of, like Mhmm.
00:31:18 Melissa
We decided in q one that we wanted to record every.
00:31:21 Melissa
We try to do two, sometimes maybe three episodes if we can when we do record.
00:31:25 Melissa
And, like, I remember we had a really good friend who inquired in January.
00:31:28 Melissa
She was like, I’d love to get on the podcast, talk about some marketing stuff.

00:31:31 Melissa
And I was like, girl, we’re we’re booked out through, like, April.
00:31:34 Melissa
Like, we have stuff all set and, like, we’d already recorded a bunch of episodes at that point, which also leads to taking a break on the podcast this summer.

00:31:42 Alison
Like, we’re

00:31:42 Melissa
gonna take a break again probably, like, six weeks.
00:31:45 Melissa
We may air stuff from other podcasts we’ve been on, but, you know, we’re trying to take a break on that.
00:31:50 Melissa
Yeah.
00:31:51 Melissa
Because even I was filling out my day, and I’m like, oh, we gotta figure out how long we’re actually gonna go for recording and stuff.
00:31:56 Melissa
So and so we’re like, okay.

00:31:58 Melissa
We’re good.

00:31:59 Alison
We got another, quarterly housekeeping time coming up.
00:32:02 Alison
Yes.
00:32:02 Alison
So yeah.
00:32:03 Alison
So I think trying to pitch myself to enough podcasts at least land on one record like, getting one recorded per quarter is totally reasonable.
00:32:12 Alison
Yeah.

00:32:12 Alison
But finding them.
00:32:14 Alison
Mhmm.
00:32:14 Alison
Finding that’s gonna be the challenge.
00:32:16 Alison
Yeah.
00:32:17 Alison
So but yeah.

00:32:17 Alison
We’re I’m gonna try that Spotify thing and see if that works better than Apple.
00:32:20 Alison
And then, yeah, next week I’m hosting an app CP event.

00:32:23 Melissa
Yeah.
00:32:23 Melissa
We’re both in

00:32:23 Alison
the back.
00:32:24 Alison
And so that I’m kinda seeing as a mentoring event, you know, like refining some processes, meeting people.
00:32:30 Alison
So yeah.
00:32:30 Alison
And then I was I did I’ve been trying, actually.
00:32:32 Alison
So I’m part of the Chamber of Commerce.

00:32:34 Alison
I wanted to get together with other entrepreneurs.
00:32:36 Alison
So I’m trying to figure out how I can take the same concept as an FCP event and kinda do some more networking or building or lunch and learn with other, like like solopreneurs.
00:32:49 Alison
It is completely different being a solopreneur than working for and with a company, even being a founder owner of a company versus working for yourself.
00:32:56 Alison
So I don’t know how that’s gonna be executed.
00:32:58 Alison
I’ve kind of been talking to our membership chair about that, see what that could look like, but they really like AI over there.

00:33:04 Alison
Like Oh, yeah.
00:33:06 Alison
Yeah.
00:33:06 Alison
I was like, maybe you shouldn’t have AI do everything, but what do I know?
00:33:10 Alison
So there’s my goals.
00:33:11 Alison
Not a whole lot.

00:33:12 Alison
Oh, oh, hold on.
00:33:12 Alison
Big one.
00:33:13 Alison
Big one, I think.
00:33:15 Alison
The very last thing I have to do, because this is actually q three, I intend to take July off.
00:33:19 Alison
And so I am hiring preparing for that now by hiring an associate photographer.

00:33:24 Alison
So I’m in the middle of it.
00:33:26 Alison
I’m gonna be to

00:33:27 Melissa
do an episode about that later on, like how how you’re going through that process and picking someone and figuring out all the details and, like, what are they doing?
00:33:35 Melissa
What are they not doing?

00:33:36 Alison
The contractor agreement just went through that nitty gritty thing yesterday.
00:33:39 Alison
So Yeah.
00:33:40 Alison
Yep.

00:33:40 Melissa
Yeah.
00:33:41 Melissa
Happy.
00:33:41 Melissa
That’s a great one.

00:33:42 Alison
That’s a that’d be a great episode all by itself.

00:33:45 Melissa
So Yeah.
00:33:45 Melissa
Awesome.
00:33:46 Melissa
Yep.
00:33:47 Melissa
So so so this podcast episode is always like an accountability.

00:33:50 Alison
Yeah.
00:33:50 Alison
It’s really good.
00:33:51 Alison
It’s like

00:33:51 Melissa
Like I said, sometimes I’m like, what was my what was my goal?
00:33:54 Melissa
Like, I don’t even know.
00:33:55 Melissa
You know?
00:33:56 Melissa
So I would encourage you guys to, like, find an accountability.
00:33:58 Melissa
Like, somebody that you can jump on Zoom once a month, once a quarter.

00:34:02 Melissa
You know, we obviously do polos and stuff, but, like, just have an account you know, jump into a photography group and just say, hey.
00:34:08 Melissa
I’m looking for four or five people to be, like, accountability buddies.
00:34:11 Melissa
And, like, you can bounce ideas off each other and stuff like that.
00:34:15 Melissa
So that’s kinda my takeaway for you guys is to, like, figure out somebody to become an accountability buddy with.

00:34:20 Alison
Yeah.
00:34:21 Alison
And have a written form because having

00:34:22 Melissa
our

00:34:23 Alison
show outline with last last quarter’s goals that we can just revisit and it’s still there, not have to remember what we’re trying to do.
00:34:30 Alison
That’s huge.
00:34:31 Alison
So create some sort of written form for your goals and review.

00:34:36 Melissa
Yep.
00:34:36 Melissa
Awesome, guys.
00:34:37 Melissa
Well, thank you

00:34:37 Alison
so much for listening.
00:34:38 Alison
Hopefully, you got some takeaways of things that you need to work on in your own business.
00:34:42 Alison
You have any questions for us, never hesitate to reach out.

00:34:45 Melissa
Yeah.
00:34:45 Melissa
Drop some of your, Q2 goals in our, on our Instagrams.
00:34:48 Melissa
That’d be awesome.
00:34:49 Melissa
I’m going to post for this.
00:34:50 Melissa
Tell us what your goals are.

00:34:53 Melissa
Awesome.
00:34:53 Melissa
Sounds good.
00:34:54 Melissa
Well, till next time.
00:34:55 Melissa
Bye bye.
00:34:58 Melissa
Thank you so much for listening.

00:34:59 Melissa
If you’re enjoying the show, would you for us, first, leave a review?
00:35:03 Melissa
Just stars would be awesome.
00:35:04 Melissa
And two, forward this episode to a biz bestie, mil spouse, or anyone facing moving their business.
00:35:10 Melissa
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:35:13 Melissa
If you have questions, you can reach out to Allison on Instagram at Allison Belle Photog, or you can find me, Melissa, in my Facebook group, Picture Perfect Rankings.

00:35:22 Melissa
Check the show notes for links, and we’re so excited to have you guys here.