EP 81: The Quarterly Catch Up: Q1 2026

ep 80 Quarterly Catch up: q1 2026

[00:00:00]

Melissa Arlena: Hey guys, we are back for one of our quarterly updates and I decided we needed a fancier name than just quarterly update. So we are now calling these the quarterly catch up. And so

Alison: Yep.

Melissa Arlena: catch up for Q1 2026. This is where we’re going to talk about our Q4 goals. See what we did, what we forgot.

Uh.

Alison: Yep.

Melissa Arlena: And things like that, uh, because that happens a lot. And then we’re gonna talk about what our goals are for Q1. And honestly, Alison and I like these episodes. These are some of my favorites. And then they usually are really well downloaded. So you guys seem to like ’em

Alison: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We actually, so quarterly catch it is gonna be its name from Hints fourth. Um, and then what I, I really love, like, I figure out the things I forgot about and like, oh, I really, I did really well with that, or there’s some reasons that didn’t happen. Um, but also there is a template document, it’s a digital download in my shop.

I’ll have a link for it, um, for these quarterly ketchup. So you can do your own if you wanna follow along with us. So, you ready, Melissa?

Melissa Arlena: be in the show notes, [00:01:00] right.

Alison: Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. If assuming all my crap gets together with thrivecart before this goes live, so if not, DM me.

Melissa Arlena: All right, so I will get started and uh, it’s funny ’cause like we copy and paste these and then we’re like, what were my goals? But I

Alison: Yep.

Melissa Arlena: we pretty much have ’em in our head. So for Q4 my big thing was to get my funnel webinar ads up and running. ’cause I’ve been working on a funnel for group coaching. Uh, and then I had start working on a new funnel for TBC, the blogging. I can tell you guys right now, that was very ambitious to think that I would get this funnel for group coaching up and running and then get started on another funnel. Uh, ’cause yeah, I haven’t touched it, not even worrying about it.

That’s gonna be 2026 at some point. Um, ’cause it, it’s a lot to get a full funnel set up and

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: which parts are working and which aren’t. So. One of the other things I did was try to kind of readjust my mindset when it comes to like income goals and stuff like that. Because I talked about before, I had like a lot of growth in the last couple years and then this year, [00:02:00] like we have growth, but it’s not been quite as much.

And the go-getter oldest daughter in me is like, no, no, no. We have to like exceed everything all the time.

Alison: All the time.

Melissa Arlena: yeah. So.

Alison: Are you identifying with all the eldest daughter reels and tiktoks?

Melissa Arlena: Yes. I will tell you, I was scrolling earlier today because this is how I get end up. I end up scrolling Instagram. I remembered someone had messaged me on Instagram and I was doing something, but I moved their message from the general tab, I think to

Alison: Yeah,

Melissa Arlena: I don’t know,

Alison: primary.

Melissa Arlena: and then I forgot about it.

And so then today I was like, oh crap, I forgot about that. I need to go find it. And so I found it and I responded. I found myself scrolling and my feed is Gen X or Zenio stuff and oldest daughter, and I’m okay with that, to be honest with you. I send ’em all to my sister and

Alison: I’ve been sending a lot to my sister, my older sister, and my niece, who is the oldest of three girls, so

Melissa Arlena: Yes,

Alison: it’s been a good time.

Melissa Arlena: I identify hardcore with that so much. So it’s been hard for me to be like, okay, you set this big audacious goal and you’re not gonna make it. And I’m like, [00:03:00] but, but. I have gotten a lot

Alison: That’s okay.

Melissa Arlena: and I. Yeah. My husband and I had a conversation about it that this is the first year that I haven’t been freaking out about income like that.

We’ve set a lot of things up in place. You know, I’ve got membership clients, I’ve got obviously all the SEO clients

Alison: That’s huge.

Melissa Arlena: Yeah. And so it’s huge for me to not freak out because it

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: every November I’d freak out.

Alison: We gotta, hold on. We, we can’t glaze over that. That is such a big deal in terms of peace of mind, clarity and goal, and just a, just your sense of peace. Like how many of us freak out for different reasons, like where we didn’t get enough people in our mini session, we didn’t get enough sessions like, I’m kind of there now, or the economy or it’s slow season, like, and we just get all up in our head about, it’s us, it’s us as, and we go internal about something not working correctly,

Melissa Arlena: Mm-hmm.

Alison: That. That’s huge. That’s awesome. Congratulations.

Melissa Arlena: Thank you. Yes. I mean, it’s very helpful too, like, you know, to make sure you’ve got a savings

Alison: Mm-hmm.

Melissa Arlena: you know, just [00:04:00] no, like, I don’t have any business debt, things like that. So it

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: it, it, that just helps a lot more with all of that kind of stuff. Um. So, see, then I had, uh, working with my biz coach on figuring out a plan for scaling my current offerings, focusing on profit instead of revenue.

So it’s funny ’cause I messaged her, uh, just the other day and I was like, I don’t want to like, create anything new in 2026. I really want to, um, sell some of the things I’ve already created that have been. You know, just sitting around for like small ticket stuff. So I’ll get into that more with like Q1 stuff, but I was like, I don’t, I don’t wanna add on a whole lot more stuff.

And initially I think we were thinking about doubling some of our services, taking on more clients on this and doing that, and I was like, ugh. I don’t know.

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: That might need to wait. ’cause I, I need to, I need to double myself if I do that. And I haven’t figured that out yet. Um. then niching down my family sessions.

Just extended family. Yeah, I’m gonna keep going forward with that. Um, I just would rather do a big large family or do membership [00:05:00] clients with newborn and maternity. Um, and then I had a pick time print sale, which I did not run. Y’all, I

Alison: Yep.

Melissa Arlena: it. Seeing it now, I’m like, yep. Did not get around to it.

So sometimes that happens. Uh, and then just real quick on what went well, what didn’t, you know, the mindset adjustment, like I said, is, is going well. Um. Black Friday, I think I had talked about before. I think before I wasn’t even sure what I was gonna do,

Alison: Yeah,

Melissa Arlena: I met with my business coach and we actually pulled some of my courses from the shop because they needed to be updated.

Some things have changed. I didn’t have time to get into all of that, so I didn’t wanna sell a course where, you know,

Alison: it was half done. Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: we pulled all of that and I was like, well we have some done for you services, like our SEO audits and our keyword research and things like that. Um, and so we did a sale on that. I did not think that one through y’all. This is a lesson learned. this is one of those things we tell you guys too, like if you’ve had, you know, mini sessions or something like that, like take notes when you’re done and put those notes [00:06:00] down for next year. And so my notes for next year are if I’m going to be selling services.

Not, you know, like standalone products or courses I need to put the week after as the time where we deliver everything. Because

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: everything, but I got so overwhelmed. I was like, oh my God, we gotta do all of this stuff. I didn’t plan for it. We have other stuff going on. So it was, uh, it was learned on that.

Alison: Yeah, I believe it. Holy cow.

Melissa Arlena: Um, and then what has gone well too is just closing our books for December. So I decided we’re not taking any done for you clients in December. Um, we’re not doing any one-off projects or anything like that, you know, we still have a done for you client that we’re wrapping up from over the holidays, you know, Thanksgiving and stuff. Um, but we’re gonna be all finished up with that, and then my team can, you know, relax over the holidays. And that’s, that’s the big goal. Like, yes, we’ll still be here answering emails on days where, you know. We’re open, obviously closed over normal holiday stuff, but, um, we’re not taking, we’re not starting a new project.

Like, [00:07:00] I don’t want my girls sitting at their computer while their kids are at home, just like, I don’t wanna be.

Alison: Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: so that’s my, my Q3, part of the, or Q4 of the wrap up. So, Alison, how about you?

Alison: All right. Okay. So on the photography side, this, this was, we had a lot going on this quarter. It was a lot. So photography, my goal is always to have four to six sessions a month. Um, I kind of anticipated a bit like an uptick with the holidays around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Um. It was weird, y’all. I did not, I think I had four sessions in November and as we sit right here today, we’re recording December 18th.

I have one session for the month of December and it’s the 30th. Um, so it’s been a very weird like holiday season, photography wise. Um. I had two sessions in November that were canceled, like they had booked months in advance, but they completely canceled their trip out to Hawaii. And I, I would have that once or twice a year.

I had two in a single month. That is just [00:08:00] strange. So I, we were talking about this before Melissa. I, I really think. It might be some economy related things like these, these events and these trips are planned so far in advance, right? Six months to a year, sometimes longer. Um, and so I think the trickle down of of tight budgets of economy stuff just takes longer to hit out here.

So.

Melissa Arlena: that timeframe, the government shut down.

Alison: Yeah. And the government shut down. Oh my god. Yeah, let’s talk about that. Um, so I think, you know, people who are still probably going on the trip because they’ve got so much money tied up in, in like the flights or the hotels are really cutting down on, on the things they can. And that would be pictures, right?

Especially high-end full service images.

Melissa Arlena: It’s funny ’cause I think there’s two types of people. There are people who are like, I’ve already put this much money in. I’m not losing that. I don’t

Alison: Yep.

Melissa Arlena: put in another thousand. And then there’s type of people that are like, I refuse to lose a dollar more. I would rather walk away from five than lose a thousand more.

Alison: Yep.

Melissa Arlena: would rather put in a thousand and I’m married to a person who would rather walk away.

Alison: [00:09:00] Yep,

Melissa Arlena: It’s very

Alison: Well, and then you have the spectrum of like, well, if you can get everything for $800 or if you can get everything for $3,000, what are you gonna choose? You’re probably gonna find something in the middle. I’m at the high end. I am not like I am a full service, high-end heirloom quality photographer, so.

I get it, you know, like, but I’m also not willing to, it’s just, it’s given me lots of time to work on mentoring stuff. So I’m enjoying it. I’m not complaining. It’s just been weird. Um, pick time, print sales did the same. I, um, did the pick time print sales, which I didn’t really expect a whole lot out of it because.

I already sell prints and then they get the digital files of, of their favorite images. Um, but I did pre-write some emails because one of the things, one of the downsides to having pick time do it is that it is coming from pick time server. So if they have unsubscribed or if they go in promotions and things like that, um, your clients may not always see them.

And so I rewrote some, Hey, a sale’s coming, Hey, the sale’s here. And [00:10:00] hey, you have 24 hour or 48 hours. And I had my VA send out. Those emails to all of my clients the past year. Um, and we got some sales from, yeah. Thanks. Thank you.

Melissa Arlena: like

Alison: was all me.

Melissa Arlena: yeah. Taken, you know, guys, if you’re listening, that’s one that I would put a note in because you forget about the fact that people can unsubscribe from those pick

Alison: Yeah. Yeah. And

Melissa Arlena: yeah,

Alison: don’t have control over.

Melissa Arlena: well it went to everybody and it didn’t ’cause they unsubscribed.

Alison: Or they unsubscribed or just because you don’t know where that server is landing, right. In their inbox. And so, um, it came from my account that they had already corresponded with they, you know, the same address that they had already been working on edits and, and sales and stuff.

And so, um, yeah, you just had, so we, it, it wasn’t fantastic. We got some sales, but nah. Um, is it worth paying my VA to do it again? I probably would maybe, maybe one or two, two emails instead of three. I don’t know. Um, okay, so I was also this quarter, supposed to do a handful of things. They did not [00:11:00] happen because I broke my computer.

I straight up broke my computer, so like two, I think it was in October. Um, so what I, my, my setup guys is that I have a MacBook Pro and then I have a second dual, uh, dual mirror display, um, set up over top of it, right? So I can, I can work with two screens. I, my dumb butt unplugged the HDMI to my second screen on my computer and I shut the laptop.

To be done with a day. And what I didn’t realize was the port was actually wedged between the screen and the computer, not in the port like I thought it was. And so as I pressed down, I pressed that very sharp edge into my screen, my LCD, the liquid whatever, retina display, and it ruined it. Absolutely ruined it.

And it was working fine. I like freaked out. I freaked out so hard. Um, ’cause it sent lines and like broken like crystals. You could see it. It was, but it was [00:12:00] functional. The computer was functional, the display was messed up. And then five days later, the whole display went black. Like, I couldn’t do anything.

I was, I, I freaked out hard. Like I couldn’t edit. I couldn’t. I couldn’t, ugh, I couldn’t figure out how to force the mirror to the second display to like just, and so I lost a whole day on that. And then it was, oh my God, in the process of like, am I gonna buy a computer? Am I gonna lease, am I gonna do, like, what am I, like I had the funds to do it.

It wasn’t the promise, like, am I gonna fix the computer? It’s good enough like it’s working, but it’s four years old. Y’all wanna know how much it costs to replace a display on a 2021 MacBook Pro.

Melissa Arlena: I would

Alison: guesses, Melissa? $850.

Melissa Arlena: Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking

Alison: IWI, I went in thinking like I was gonna be under 500 and I’m gonna get this done in a week.

Melissa Arlena: Mm-hmm.

Alison: And so then I, uh, yeah, it was a whole deal. And so all that to say several things did not happen because I had to panic, fix my computer, figure it out, buy a new one, and huble along on a, it took two weeks. Here’s the deal. Here’s the other thing. [00:13:00] They don’t even keep what I needed on island. I couldn’t just go to the Apple at Al Moana and go buy one.

They don’t keep a four terabyte machine. Here, and it took two weeks to order it. So once I figured out how I was gonna buy it and what I was gonna do, whether I was gonna go fix or buy a new one, then I had to figure out how am I gonna finance it or am I gonna just pay it out? Right. I bought it out.

Right. And then it took two weeks to get here. Shocking. I was, ugh. It was a big deal. So anyway, I, I didn’t get my print product images. I was gonna rent my friend’s studio and get some beautiful, consistent, uh, studio style images of my artwork, um, for blogs and ads and, and Instagram. That didn’t happen. Uh, I was gonna work on some YouTube stuff to launch our podcast, um, videos that didn’t happen.

I did create a shop for some mentoring stuff. Um, but because of Thrive Cart things, uh, it’s not. Completely done. I’m waiting like there’s the last 10% to make it work. Um, it’s on Thrive Cards end. So that’s on my, my, uh, holiday list to figure out and get that up. [00:14:00] Um, I did up my email game in terms of, um, like mentoring.

I, I’m sending out several emails a week. Uh, so fun. I’m getting a little fun update that’s gonna come in the next part. Um. And my VA is helping me more with ig uh, Instagram content, uh, on the backend. So, and then the Bright Black Friday coaching, I did none of, because I was panicking about my computer. I did nothing.

I was going to, I was gonna get that shop going and then have a Black Friday sale. And for all the reasons I just explained, that didn’t happen. It just didn’t happen. But I was, I was very honest with my email list, like, Hey guys, here’s what’s going on. Here’s reality. And I, I shared that because I think it is really important to be like, crap happens.

This is reality. Not every launch, not every plan goes according, according to plan, right? Um, and then I did do the freebie swap with Melissa, and I wanted to do one other person. Uh, I did court and reach out to some people and found some good matches, but it went to the wayside because I just was [00:15:00] freaking out with just trying to maintain regular photography stuff with a.

Malfunctioning computer situation. So that took up a bulk, bulk of, uh, that was all of November actually. Um, and then here we are in December and, uh, very few sessions, but working a lot and giving a lot of opportunity to, to continue on this, some on this shop that I’m creating for, uh, for the mentoring templates and things.

So that’s pretty, but let’s get into Q1. You ready? What are your goals?

Melissa Arlena: Well, let’s start with one that’s kind of a, we’re gonna move, I’m gonna move my bond one to the top. Um, ’cause it’s a goal that Allison and I have bantered about this year. Like, of

Alison: Mm-hmm.

Melissa Arlena: I think it, she looked into it and then I sent her a message one day and I was like. I dunno if you’re gonna like this or not, but I wanna change the podcast name.

And so you guys should be getting, this should be the first episode

Alison: Mm-hmm.

Melissa Arlena: name. And maybe you were like, what the heck is this?

Alison: Yeah. What is this?

Melissa Arlena: maybe, we’ll I think we’re gonna record another episode that’ll drop right before this so that way you

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: what’s going on.

But [00:16:00] you know, we kind, that’s what happens sometimes is like a goal pops in last minute and so then other things get shuffled off. So we decided to do a podcast rebrand and I was telling my husband, I’m like. I like the fact that, you know, I came to Allison with this and she was like, oh yeah, I’m already on board with that.

I’ve already

Alison: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Melissa Arlena: too,

Alison: were like, really like hemming and haw, like, don’t hate me. And I was like, actually, I’ve already thought about it. So yeah, we had danced around it individually and didn’t realize it.

Melissa Arlena: Yeah. And my husband was like, well, that’s why you guys are good podcast co-hosts. Which

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: way, I got a notification today that we are five year Polo Sary is today.

Alison: What? Oh my goodness.

Melissa Arlena: on it and it just took me to take you a message. I was like, I don’t want the message, I want the like notification part.

Alison: I feel like Marco Polo needs to pay us to share our story as an ad. Like here we are, like as the Polo Friends to like private coaching to public podcast, all because of Marco Polo. Like

Melissa Arlena: We should reach out to

Alison: we need to, we need y’all. Marco Polo, if you’re listening, uh, [00:17:00] reach out in the show notes.

Melissa Arlena: so we sat down last week, uh, and we went ahead and did, um, some new graphics and working on some new things for it and everything. So we’re excited and like I said, we’re gonna have another episode. We’re gonna record talking all

Alison: Yeah,

Melissa Arlena: Um, and so,

Alison: yeah.

Melissa Arlena: to

Alison: Ta.

Melissa Arlena: the new one. I’m like, get booked.

I was like, I keep wanting to say something else, and I’m like, no,

Alison: I know we went through, we go through so many ideas and possibilities, and then I can’t remember what we stuck with. I do that. I’m doing that with like my shop and some other things, some new things that we’re, I’m titling, so yeah. All right.

Melissa Arlena: that was our, so that was our, that’s our Q1 goal was to get this launched and, uh, we’re doing it the

Alison: Mm-hmm. Well done.

Melissa Arlena: Yeah. So for me in 2026, I want to make things from my saws. So I don’t know if you guys has heard, uh, guys have heard that analogy before. Um, but the idea is, uh, you know, there was a [00:18:00] sawmill that cut lumber and they had all this sawdust and they ended up packaging it up and turning it into like pressboard and then selling that.

And so the idea is what are some of those scraps of what you already do that you can turn into sawdust? And I already was thinking last night like, we need to do an episode about that. So I’m gonna put that on the

Alison: Yep.

Melissa Arlena: But for me, some of the things are like, you know, the blogging club’s been going for like two years now, so I’ve, or 18 months. So I have like 36 blog posts templates that are in the blogging club. And while it’s great for the blogging club members, I’m like, there’s also hundreds of other photographers that

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: make some bundles from these. Um. We’ve done some keyword research. Uh, we just had a photographer reached out asking about heirloom keyword research and I was like, yeah, actually we do have that.

So I’m like, that could be a new product. Uh, so I think I wanna work on doing some small products and stuff like that, like some done for you guys stuff. Um, obviously we’re not gonna write the blog post for you, but if I can hand you the keywords, I can hand you the topic and I can hand you a template that you, and, and then the process where you can just go in and get a blog post written in an [00:19:00] hour. I think that is, you know, pretty close to done for you.

Alison: Yeah. Based off, yeah, absolutely.

Melissa Arlena: So I think some things like that. Uh, I’m gonna work my funnel coach that I was working with, uh, for the last like three months. She has a year long program, so I just went ahead and bought it on Black Friday. So I’m gonna be working with her for a year.

And as someone on our call this morning in that group said, she was like, I like the fact that I’m gonna be in here for a year. Like I know that I’m gonna have plenty of time. To work on these things, to

Alison: And

Melissa Arlena: things, to take my time with getting it all set up, being able to ask questions. Uh, and I was like, absolutely.

So, you

Alison: yeah.

Melissa Arlena: I can keep working on the current funnel, work on adding some new blogging club ones, some stuff with Facebook ads. And I’m trying to learn also with all of this stuff, like, how can I translate this for photographers? Like, how can I help you guys create funnels and stuff in your businesses?

So. I will, uh, I will bring that knowledge as I get it and stuff. And what comes to mind? It’s that whole like taking the idea and then going, okay, what, what if I put a photographer here? How could I make [00:20:00] that work? Um, so yeah. And then I think, I think I’m gonna do a new website for the SEO side of my business.

Alison: What it’s been, it’s been a couple years since your it’s time. It’s your pattern.

Melissa Arlena: Yeah, it’s my pattern and it’s not that I don’t like my current website, but I do feel like it could use a refresh and, um, and really like sales pages and stuff like that. I’m finding myself, you know, needing some other templates and so I’m like, yeah, you know, I think it’s probably time for a little bit. So I’ve just been working on redoing our Done for You page with a template I bought, um, I had bought already for another website and then I was like, well, I guess I’m gonna use it for this one. And I really like it and stuff, so I don’t think it’s too different. So that’ll be good. I’m not changing up entirely, it’s just refining and adjusting things. Uh, and then I know I need to go in on my photography website and do, um, and kind of give it an SEO once over for the year, you know, that’s what everybody does in January. So reviewing what keywords are, am I ranking for? What am I not ranking for? Where am I ranking? [00:21:00] What do I need to do to pick things up?

Um, a new quarterly, uh, update rolling out right now with Google. I know there was one in September. So just kind to see, you know, where am I at after those updates and everything. Uh, and then see, in like. it next week? No, I think in two weeks. I’m co I’m doing coaching week with the motherhood anthology, so we’ll have a link in the show notes.

You guys can check it out. But I’m gonna teach, um, one day on SEO and we’ve got a bunch of other coaches coming in and teaching on other things, photography related. So, um, that’ll be really fun. And yeah, I think that kind of, that’s kind of the Q1 goals is I, I think that’s plenty to work on.

Alison: Yeah, that’s a lot. I mean, I keep thinking back like, okay, Q1, that’s three months. It does, it seems like a lot, but it’s, it’s really not. Especially when you’re maintaining two other businesses at the same time. Right.

Melissa Arlena: And I think when it comes to the website, the new website, it’s gonna be page by page, you know?

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: you

Alison: thing at a time.

Melissa Arlena: one day you’ll pop in and be like, oh, this page looks different. But then the other page still looks the same. I think I’m gonna,

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: gonna do a [00:22:00] whole big, oh, everything’s done at once.

’cause that’s just really overwhelming. We do that for clients and it’s really overwhelming.

Alison: Yeah. Uhhuh it, it really is. Um, okay, so for my Q1, and this is always fun because as I’m listening to you talk, I’m taking notes on like ideas that are coming to my head of things to either add to my list or like. Put on some giant post-it somewhere as ideas for the future. Um, so guys, if, if you’re thinking about that, if you feel like if you’re listening and you’re, I don’t know, folding, laundry, walking, driving, um, and you want some show notes about this, like jump on our email list, we will send you these notes.

Um, because one of my goals for mentoring this, my mentoring side of my business, um, starting. January this month, um, is to reformat my podcast email to be more show notes, so to be more tactile, more actions to, um, next steps for you to take. So if you are not able to sit down and listen to a podcast and take notes with complete attention, like most of us are not.[00:23:00]

I will be sending you the actual action items. I got, I had a cutesy name for this. Going back to the titles. I had a, i, I had a really nice name for it. I can’t remember what that is right now. I think it’s super basic, um, because I just like your next steps, your action items, something like that. Something pretty, pretty obvious.

Um, but I did not want it to be show notes because I didn’t want to confuse you with the actual show notes of the podcast. In the email anyway. Um, so I probably just confused you just then. Um, so anyway, jump on, uh, the link in the show notes to get that email. It will be your next action items or something to that effect.

Um, and every week when the new show comes out, you’ll get actual tangible steps that we talk about in the show. Um, so that’s a new reformatting thing that’s happening. Um, I’m just taking something that I’m already doing and making it better. That’s the idea there. Just making it more useful for you guys, more attractive, um, to help you.

Take action in your own businesses and, and. Improve in any way you can. Um, [00:24:00] so continue on with the mentoring side. Um, I am pretty excited about this idea of a paid popup workshop. Um, so this is gonna be something that I am already outlining. I’ve already got the, I I actually, I’ve already outlined it, but I’m gonna be flushing out over the holiday break and hopefully.

Beta testing with some email subscribers. So if you’re not on my email list already, jump on that now. Um, I will be beta testing this, um, sometime in the new year and then, um, launching it to be a, um, smaller ticket item in the newly formed shop. Um, and so I’ve actually gotta pull up right now. On my Instagram of what you want that, what topic you might want that first, um, popup workshop to be about.

Um, we’re, I’m deciding between, um, client communication, inquiry to invoice, um, mapping out your entire client journey, uh, emails and or, oh God, what was the name of the other one? It had a cutesy name. I can’t remember what it is. See, I told you like [00:25:00] as, as mentioned, um, there’s another one, there’s a poll on Instagram somewhere.

So go vote on the poll and see what you want. Um, see what you would prefer. Um, I do have the idea of doing both sometime in the new year, but one per quarter is all I’ve got. Um. So, yeah, one, it’s gonna have, uh, workbooks and PDF downloads to go with it. It’s gonna have a video, uh, 60 to 90 minutes long. Um, and we’re gonna get that launched into the ether and it’s gonna be fantastic.

Um, and then I would love to start, once that gets going, once that is up and live, or maybe even simultaneously, I want to work on some destination based stuff. So. I’m in Hawaii, it’s a destination. Uh, and uh, just side note, I’m staring out the window right now and it is the ugliest rainiest day today. Like Hawaii has weather guys, but destination photography, um, because it’s very similar to moving, like even if you’re not leaving a current location, uh, or you want to focus on a clientele that is coming into your area, uh, temporarily it [00:26:00] is slightly different.

It’s a lot of the same stuff, but it’s slightly different, um, on how to, how to reach those people. So. That’s something that I wanna, um, be doing a more focused effort on. So that’s the mentoring side. Um, and I’m gonna be doing, but my photography side will still keep chucking, uh, it’s gonna keep trucking along.

Um, I’m really hoping to do two to three sessions even in the slower months. So, January, February, March. Um, I’ve already got inquiries for, I’ve already got a couple paid, uh, sessions in every month. Um, and so, or at least one, maybe. Maybe two lots of inquiries on the books, so that’s cool. Uh, and two to three is lower than my normal.

Um, because I need room and time and space to make some of these mentoring things happen. Um, and so I think two would be happy. Three. I’ll feel full if I’m still trying to work on this popup. ’cause I’ve never done it before. I’m gonna need some time. I’m gonna need time. Um, so, but one of the things, because of a lot of the shutdown, the government shutdown and some of the economy lower end, um, lower end.

Why am I saying that? Fewer sessions that I’ve [00:27:00] had for 2025. I do still want to do the retargeting ads. I want to, um, focus on not just my approach to family photography, that it’s fun and fast, but also I want to, I really wanna push the value of having. The artwork in your hands that I’m not just throwing over a bunch of digital downloads, um, over a fence.

I feel like I’m throwing a bomb over the fence and like running, like, hey, have fun with that. Like, um, so I really wanna play that up and retarget. So people who are already on my website, I want them, I wanna show up in Facebook and Google, um, to remind them of like, Hey, this, I’m here. I’m here. And try to try to keep January, February, and March, um, and beyond at capacity.

Um. So that requires all the trickle down things that I didn’t do last quarter, which, or this quarter, which is the artwork imagery, getting into the studio and getting some like really nice, consistent images. Um, and then also to that point, I [00:28:00] commissioned a video from my framer last spring that is still not on my website.

I’ve had it in my hand, in my hands that, you know, preferably in my hands for nine months now. And it needs to get on my website. So we need to do that. That really helps emphasize the whole heirloom artwork thing. Um, and I’ve really been trying to pester my, uh, my album lab, the lab where I get the albums from to do something similar and basically they just won’t, and it’s making me mad, so I just keep annoying them.

Hopefully I’ll pay, like I pay you to do this. Please love, like, I’m buying an album from them almost every week of the year. Like I probably buy. 40, 45 albums a year from them. Like, I’ll pay you, give me a freaking, anyway, sorry. That’s neither here nor there. Um, and then I do, um, I did just have a pretty big, probably my biggest family session ever.

28 people. [00:29:00] 28 people and they were all very big people. This was a very unique situation where I had 20, not only the number of people, they were all much older, so it, a lot of teenagers, a lot of young twenties, they were a lot of the same height. And then the day and location that we chose to shoot was a very high tide.

So we had a very short, uh, very narrow beach to work with. And it was the narrow part of the beach that had a pretty big slope to the sand. So getting any, getting the giant group shot was. Very difficult. It was so bad because if I went one way, half the group was going down to the right, you know, sloping down towards the water.

If I had their back to the water, like the back row was sloping down towards the water. Um, and I was like literally in bushes trying to, trying to get them. Um, so I think I have a new, new plan. If I have more than 20 people in a session, I think I’m gonna hire a second shooter or an assistant, at the very least, somebody to help me.

’cause this was the hardest and I think it was because they were all the same height and you just don’t know that going in. Um, [00:30:00] I’ve done a family of 25, but we had everything from six months to 15 years old. Um, and then adults. And so that height variation’s very easy to work with. And this was. This just wasn’t that.

So I think I have a new policy. I’m gonna hire somebody to help me, uh, when it comes to that stuff. Um, and then,

Melissa Arlena: I mean, when you’ve got that many people and you’re trying to focus on shooting, it would be so much

Alison: mm-hmm.

Melissa Arlena: could stand back, look, run up, adjust somebody, stand back, look, run up, and you’re not the one running back and

Alison: Yeah. And it really, and I really relied on my client that hired me, um, the aunt to help me make sure I could see everybody, right. And then when she was in the shot, she wasn’t there to help me. She, like, she knew everybody’s names. She was able to say like, Kai, you’re going this way Cage. You need to do this, Janet, you need to that, you know, like.

She was able to, I mean, I try to remember names y’all, but there’s 28 of them, like

Melissa Arlena: was a

Alison: barely like right? Like I

Melissa Arlena: I.

Alison: got the. I got the youngest, I had the youngest eight, and that was it. Um, but it wasn’t them that I needed to move all the time, um, because they were the short ones. So I, [00:31:00] I really wanna hire somebody to, even if, just as an assistant, I don’t know, something like that.

Um, and then lastly, I have a what to wear for beach photos that I’ve updated in 2024. I wrote it in 23. It very much needs to be updated, um, for some Hawaii, more Hawaii. But, uh, tips, um, for 2026. And then, so the download needs to be updated and the blog needs to be updated. Um, and I need to do that. And my travel guide needs to be updated too, so I don’t know if that I can do all that.

Um, I actually, in fact, started the travel guide’s a little bit outdated. So I told people, I, I tell my clients when they, um, when they get on the phone with me, I’m like, Hey, here’s a link to the guide, but also jump on this email list because it’s a little bit out of date. There’s probably a year’s, year’s worth of blog posts that I have not put in that travel download.

So, um, so yeah,

Melissa Arlena: job for your assistant, your va.

Alison: it does, but I have to have everything in a pretty package for her to do that, [00:32:00] right? Like, I have to write the content for her to put in. I need to like very clearly, like, I want these pa, you know what I mean? Like, it has to be so ni nicely put together. Don’t. Maybe I could just get it done faster.

Maybe I could have her do it. I don’t know. I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll see. So, um, whoa. That almost fell on me. Um, but yeah, I feel like I, that was just like a verbal fire hose. Um, but so photography, mentoring, those are all of my goals for Q1. I don’t know. It might be too much. We’ll see.

Melissa Arlena: Yeah, we might need to put a little thing on here for both of us that, uh, we might need to go, okay, hey, maybe we should dial our goals back and maybe we

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: have like four or five goals per, per quarter,

Alison: Yeah. Or like, yeah, two a month.

Melissa Arlena: both like are picking a lot of goals, actually. Oh, I like that too. A month kind of

Alison: Yeah. Like, what are the two, and that might help us, like, eat the elephant, right? Like, how do you break down these goals? Like breaking them down. They might, Hmm, we should think about this. There, there could be a deeper, we could go a little deeper with how to [00:33:00] break these goals down by month or by, by something.

Melissa Arlena: Yeah, but I think even if we just shortened it up for both of us,

Alison: Yeah.

Melissa Arlena: for us to then tackle our goals. And it’s probably easier for you guys to listen to us

Alison: Yep, that’s true. That’s true.

Melissa Arlena: instead of, like you said, the fire hose from both of us on what we’re doing. And it’s like, oh, it’s a lot.

Alison: It’s a lot. It’s a lot. So, but hopefully you guys got some inspiration. Hopefully you’re like taking your own notes. Like as I’m getting ideas, as we we chat, hopefully you’ve gotten some ideas too, if you’re driving or folding laundry or walking the dog like. I don’t know, maybe, maybe you put a voice memo note and a reminder in your phone.

That would be, that would be smart. Um, but if you want these written notes to come to your email, jump on my email list, um, in the show notes. I can’t remember what it’s called, but it’ll be in there. It’ll be a link.

Melissa Arlena: Yeah, and if you guys have goals of your own, um, you know, reply back and let us know or send a message on Instagram like, what are your goals

Alison: Yep.

Melissa Arlena: Uh, ’cause we would love to hear those because again, you hear other people’s [00:34:00] goals and it helps inspire you.

Alison: Yep, shakes it up. Makes you think creatively and differently about your own situation. So hopefully you guys found this helpful. Until next time.

Melissa Arlena: Bye.