How to strengthen your brand by setting SMART goals

As a photographer, we are our own bosses. You dictate when you work, how much you work + how much time you put into work + sometimes this is difficult + it’s tough to structure our time. As photographers, it’s vital that you keep yourself motivated by setting SMART goals for business.

It’s important to have goals for yourself daily, weekly, every 30 days, every 60 days and every 90 days. Why? This is a very self-motivating career and it’s tough to be your own boss. It’s easy to make excuses and easy to take a day off, so we must hold ourselves accountable for our goals.

The method that has worked for me with goal setting is to write out all these goals and keep them in a visible spot (whether that’s a mirror, in front of your desk, on your computer home screen, fridge,etc). Putting the goals somewhere you can see them becomes a constant reminder that you will do these things and these are the things you’d like to accomplish. These are not put in a visible place to make you stressed or make you think about work all the time, but instead to keep you motivated and keep you reminded of what’s possible.  I like to pair my goal with how it will help me in my business or help me personally.  So for example- One goal may be I want to increase my Instagram following to 15k by the end of 90 days. This will improve my credibility with my clients and make me feel validated in the work I’m creating.

It is important that these goals are SMART goals.

S- specific

M-measurable

A-attainable

R- Realistic

T- Timely

The goal listed above was specific (15k), measurable because you’ll know if you’ve met this or not by the due date. You want it to be timely, meaning you need a due date for yourself, otherwise you will want to push this date further and further and are less likely to accomplish the task.

The goal was attainable because that number may have only been 1k-2k off of what the user was currently at. This ties in with the goal being realistic.

The goal is timely when there is an end date (or due date) set on it. By giving yourself this deadline, it will force you to hold yourself accountable with your goal and show you if you’re meeting them or not. The more you make goals, the more attainable and realistic they’ll be once you get into the habit of making them.

As a photographer myself, I find It best to make myself

• Daily goals
• Weekly goals
• Monthly goals
• 90 day goals

When you read daily goals, you may be like “woah” I don’t want to have to do this every single day, but this is not meant to make you feel stressed out. Instead, use this as a checklist of items that you may want to (or may have already) accomplished. Sometimes I throw things on my checklist and cross them off just to show myself how much I accomplished in one day, to show myself what’s possible.

You may have an annual goal set for yourself, but my unpopular opinion is that it is TOO long for you to focus on. You want to be focusing on what you can do TODAY to grow your business, not have the mindset that you can wait a few months.

I hope this helps you begin to goal set! Start small + work your way up to your 3 month goals! As cheesy as the saying is, the “shoot for the moon and land amongst the stars” really applies here. If your goals are low, you’re shooting low, but imagine if you set your goals high and worked diligently on them. Imagine where you could be.