Lessons

Lesson Info

Art of the Checklist and Scheduling

All right so here are some questions I get a lot what if I don't have any clients well, you've got a checklist items you can still work on these air marketing campaigns you need to be actually physically working on breaking down your marketing campaign and a tangible bites of things you can do now outreach to vendors that were like we're going to talk about small for networking you could order materials you could be blogging even if you don't have clients who should be blogging like for me I like to target mom's not necessarily families could cross are for the fall but I like to target couples and for beauty so for me for blogging if I don't necessarily have sessions I try to take pictures or blawg about something fun to do in the d c metro area we went to the aquarium I took pictures of it boom I blogged about it so I took pictures of my kids look at that all these benefits to pictures of my kids plus had pictures for my blawg and I had fought her and it was good for my search engine ...

optimization so unified in how many clients aiken schedule things like that that can filling the gap follow up with past enquiries this is a big one that I think a lot of people are like I'm waiting a new enquiries no one's coming in why aren't you talking to your old ones we're going to use that in the client management, but they've already come in your door. You've already talked to them at least once. How do you know that they haven't been saving to book you or that their life circumstances change? Maybe they couldn't do it at the time. We don't know what happened s o always that you have no clients at the time, be following up with the past enquiries and outreach to other businesses as well. This is, I see every single year about the beginning of the year after christmas is over a lot of photographers again requests for recommendations for different vendors and stuff, big oneness, logos and branding, and that time of year is when I'm always getting those e mails, and I'm thinking, you think you're going to drive your business this year based on your logo? I mean, not that that's not important branding a super important, but if you don't have clients, you should be working on things that are actually gonna work for you. In the end, we not something probably more on a global list they would do, but theater more priority items that need to be done if you don't have any clients or you need to meet that client goal for the month, so, like the follow up with pass inquiry, say, I have a four session goal for the month, especially if you're like in school or working another job and only have two by keeping track of that on my local list and I know that I need two more I can follow up with passing car inquiry's and or put out like a call on my page to fill that gap and still make my money. Instead of holding my breath and hoping by putting it on the list, it's becomes it kind of makes me have to do it and then creating a real value in your business plan is another one. I know that sounds that's overwhelming in itself. I break down the business plan and work on it a little bite at a time am I doing a complete change this year by deciding to specialize with my plan? Probably needs that slightly change from last year I'm it's not going to be the same. All right? So a consistent use the to do list will result in success. Once you get this down, it becomes really easy. You're like I said, you're going to operate in the local a little bit more, then you are in global butting they both need to be there, you'll get things done. All right scheduling and the checklist as you can see here I literally have everything scheduled this what I was talking about where they're color coded and then I can select and see what needs to be done by turning in honor ofthe I could have him on a lot once but it wouldn't sit on the screen because there was so much going on so over scheduling to start with family first than business so this is kind of where that crossover goes between the checklist when I sit down to schedule and I have my school list storm and then my business list in my homeless I'm going to start with family first and then to my business death because what is the whole point me owning my own business I mean within reason I still have deadlines to meet her clients but the whole point you on my business is my quality of life to you with my family so I try to always start with soccer practices and date nights yes we scheduled date nights has been joked that if it does it is not on there it won't happen but you need to emphasize business over family or else you're missing out on the whole point is doing this in the first place and I've been saying that all day um I thought it was a good quotable I think it's nice so setting up the schedule start with your personal obligations and responsibilities if you are not using some schedule of function at home, you need to have this all in one place that is we're kind of everything combines start with their personal obligations and then moved because this is what big re evaluation comes in. You may be full steam ahead over here on your business plan, fantastic everything's going great, but you have all this for family and then the family stuff starts dropping awful. Then again, what's the point you wanted them to mesh the two maybe you need to re value your business plan to scale back on the number of sessions you're taking up your price and scale back on number, or you need to do the opposite of everything is not a strict ninety five when you're scheduling thing that's really important? I have never been able to work that way, but I'm able to manage by scheduling around personal obligations and responsibilities. It puts me into that box to know the exact amount of hours I have to work going back to the list that we talked about in the first segment that had you guys star and kind of write down how much time you think you're spending on certain things if I look put the personal responsibilities, seeing what is left and then try to fit that in this you're going to perceive its too big to go in this little whole something's got to give, and that really will force you to look at the inefficiencies, so start with personal obligations, responsibilities, make sure you write family time in there, talk to your significant other or your family or whoever it is that you're trying to balance in your life and see are they want to block off saturday's to go to such a sexual, then you know you need to move sessions, or if you're trying to block off sundays for football in the afternoon, well, you know you can't do a session goes your husband wants you to watch football with him that's family time, that's fine use have to adjust to be flexible, look at the business planning goals from there and set an hour range or an x amount of hours. I once I do all of this, then I look how many hours I have left for myself, so in the personal obligations and responsibilities, it's like the doctor's appointments I need to do working out, I'm spending time with the family, then I look at my business planning goals, okay? Did I figure up when I did my plan that I needed to x number of sessions per year and he didn't make x? Does this fit into this? Well, then I need to figure out if I can do all of that in these x amount of hours that I have left or else I can't do it at all. I don't work a strict every single day office hours are from nine to five I can't do that, and you can't I can't do that with kids their schedules to all over the place. What if they get sick? I want to reserve the option in the freedom of flexibility, so some days I may be ableto work in the days of the have extended school day or other times I work at night, I don't put out to my clients and exact office our time uh, just because then they kind of hold you to it and then you don't really reserve that, right? And they're trying to get ahold of you. I mean, how many times you showed up? You know, I'm going to eat this, I want to have this for lunch and you show up in the restaurant's closed, you're like, what's in your our regular operating hours and you're like, man, I'm never come back here just me, but you know, it just still same idea then they feel like you're you're not easily reachable and it's nothing negative, but it gives a negative connotation the whole entire feel, and we want to remove any of the barriers so put everything on the calendar and color code, your commitments? I really strongly recommend a cloud function with this my husband and I utilized on I cal and google calendar, and we haven't asked that puts them all together. It is not an apple and he's android, so it all kind of goes together on and I have the functionality of both, so that mike, a lot of business people use google calendar, so when I received an invite that I don't have to go physically, write it onto the eichel apple, when I can automatically added in the ap combines of for me, but then I have everything in one place, and it will tell me if there's a conflict and they don't have to worry about it. Another reason for this and putting everything on the calendar is that if a client calls and we're trying to set up that pre consultation time or order session time, I just have to pull up the counter, look at it right, then I don't have to go, let me see what obligations are, I think there's soccer that night, but I'm not sure I'll get back to you. I don't want to hear that as a client and I get that you have personal obligations, but I don't want to feel like I'm taken back seat where's, if I could say, oh no, I have got this date time for you, how does that work right there? I'm on point and I'm able to I get them in and do what I need to d'oh like I said there's no reason for not using a cloud system. I don't recommend a hard written calendars you need to be able to be flexible and it justice much is possible. I don't publish my calendar to my clients, either somebody mentioned using online booking tool I personally am not if fan of those unless you're hard core set able to commit to those times, I like having the flexibility of if I get a last minute inquired for the weekend and we decided we wanted to go to the park. I want to reserve the right to be able to say, oh, you know that book this weekend, they don't know what I'm booked with, but if I had publicly put it out on a calendar to a client, then they're going to say, but it says you're available. All well then that removes that whole priority and put my family first cause it may have been a last minute decision I didn't go in and change it, so this count I'm talking about is an internal calendar that you and the other people in your life you're going to use when that app is called callin mob see elian m o b and it integrates google plus um I cal and a couple others, so the goal is to keep your work in the workplace even if you work at home and I know this is super difficult from having an office in the hole and so much used to be like I'm just going to hop on and do an email, but if you were going toe work a certain amount of hours to make sure your stay in the certain amount of hours because if you start spending more like we talked about earlier, you're losing more money on dh you want to be a strictest possible again, I limit myself because my costs are set upon x number hours per week, so if I work eight hours one day and I only work for hours the next day, I know that maybe I have four more hours snake up elsewhere in the week I reserve the right to do that I don't have to put everything aside in orderto work that eight hours that day so here is an example schedule of how I do everything it kind of culminates some of what we've been discussing seven to nine a m is getting all kids dressed and off to school. This is when I really try to target on the local list in the tomb priority like on the go check of social media and email because in the mornings is when if so client is email me while I've been a c sleep overnight, I'm able to directly send them that client checklists and get them so maybe they can respond by the end of the day or is if I have to wait until I'm sitting at a computer to type it all up and formulate it? It's not gonna happen toe later and they may have another photographer may have responded in time. S o I promise you it on the go check of social media email while my coffee is brewing and I'm sitting in the car school drop off line ten noon is play time appointments and errands with my kids. A lot of this is because it operates around my kidsschool schedule. My second one is in preschool. So we go over this if their priority items to get done is then I know I need to schedule and find someone to help with the kids or like to do a play group and beg somebody to help me because I don't have anybody that helps with the kids and I mean my husband, but it is just me at home, we don't have an individual to help. We had pickup from preschool and lunch time and then by big chunk of the day is nap time. It's worked like heck time the second they laid down a nap time from one to three to have to pick up the other one. It doesn't matter if you nab, you have to be quiet, you have to have rest time in your room and majority of the time they follow sleep, but that is when I work. That is a consistent block for the most part that I know I can schedule client calls, so I know off the bat if a client is like, hey, can we do it on the phone consultation? I knew off the bat that pretty much every day one, two, three is the gun is going to be where I need to look on the calendar and that's, why I'm gonna check my color code and see if there's anything in there and more than likely there's not now you gotta pray they don't wake up start screaming for you too. It happens, but people are pretty understandable, but that way I can focus. I know that's the time of day there's takes complete guesswork and it's a quicker email pickup from elementary school and that's, another on the go check social media email time, which actually times were good prime social media times for tar targeting your audience just happens to be that way for me, andre have a block for family and then depending on bedtime if the kids napped is we're pretty hard course that has a very big structure in our house that we really try toe have bed by seven because we have work, we need to dio workout or other obligations as well, so implementing office hours you need to set expectations and clients I will try to not respond if I have to work in the evening late at night, I try not to respond to a client necessarily and eating even though we have the time because it sets an expectation that they can get a response eleven o'clock at night or to angst, I may be a wake being the baby or something and I get on my phone I probably gonna work on some other emails even though it's a priority thing to respond, I got to make the judgment call what is this saying an expectation a client that they're going to get a response about their album design it too and that's not priority to me be flexible with it know that every single day you're not going to be able to do the exact same thing but that doesn't mean that your day is wasted you just need to shift it like when I was preparing for this I things got messed up all the time and of having to stay up later or get up earlier and then just you just have to shift it around free flexible with your schedule I if I was doing research on the flexibility and that has been a key thing of quality of life and it found that seventy one percent of women feud viewed flexibility a super important life so if you're getting and knowing that you can be flex well I think it reduces a lot of the stress where's if you're trying to confine yourself to the box of working these hours it's like oh my god it gets so much jenna have so much to do but then you you're ineffective your non productive and been able to commit because you're just trying to do everything any let up doing it half way instead of fully and completely s o if you have flexibility and know that you can't be flexible you're more likely tio be motivated and engaged in what you're doing and forty six percent businesses. This was a small business happiness index survey, so they started their business to have more flexibility to be happy on, so commit to it, have structure within office blocks. I just showed you guys how my office blocks work. Every single office block starts like this. I checked the calendar for that day's item. Do I have a client meeting that evening? Because that will determine that? A more likely be, like the number one thing in my local dizzy list at that point is, do I haven't mean that afternoon I need repair for and then I started going down and I end up things do get push, but then I know that still need to target in examining start the local to do list after I checked the calendar, and then I then then I checked business, you know. If I start with email first, I'm going to get off track and start responding to things that aren't necessarily on my on my priority list because I have I have this need to have to respond to people really quickly clients do like it, but it does set sometimes not a really good precedent, so I have a really bad habit of wanting to do that. What if you get into email and then you have a client that has five hundred questions about album designed it be easier just to call them? You call him that your whole morning is wasted? You have anything prepared for your day stuff, so always wait for email or social media accounts to be after you've done the calendar and examine it start the local to do list and since I have all of that, my little ratty book with me and my calendar, my phone when the coffee's brewin that's how I'm flipping to d'oh right then and then the global to do list in priority orders that's how this all kind of marries tio together and combines in order to be able tio implement office hours and I use the term office hours really loosely like I said they don't have to be strict, so don't confuse urgent with important either this causes something is urgent to a client doesn't mean it's to you what is that saying don't make your emergencies not my priority or something to that effect. That and that's so true. A client maybe so oh, my goodness, I need to get this album out it square most birthday next week. Well, it may be important, but I'm pretty sure you get your taxes done on time or a little bit more important, you know, as long as you're still within your timeline of turning everything around, but more than likely, your taxes are a little bit more important. So that's, the cost benefit analysis that you guys need to d'oh and this is important. And I say this for now because a lot of people at home are probably multitasking while they're doing this, but you're more productive to do one thing at a time. I am. This is more. Do what I say, not as I d'oh, turn off your social media, turn off facebook and focus. When I was flying on the way out here, I got on for the five and a half hour flight. I was thinking, man, there's gonna be tv there's going to be? Why I find I can work I can hang out there was nothing on that plane I was forced to work without multitasking I probably got more stuff done in that flight that I did in the last month combined but it's true if you're able to disengage on dino some people who will get out of the house that they're able teo and go to coffee shops and such that don't have internet and leave their phone in the car if you can in order to focus on dh this includes eating you actually study show you shouldn't eat while you work I have a bad habit of doing this as well because then you are focused on multiple things and you're not as productive at what you're doing and you man for getting a step or some you need to dio heavy multitasking contemporary lower your fifteen points so if you have social media going at you like that next on the block for about the next one this is three times more than the effect of smoking cannabis I had to include this cause I was like well I don't know it's just crazy to think that multitasking something so mainstream that everyone does in the world pretty much cultivate it's of everything we're doing and I'm sure a lot of you were pulling thinking I was going to teach on multitasking no you need to do the opposite you need to focus on one thing added time that's why sometimes that the kids were running around crazy even though it's your work time and even if they're not paying attention to you? If they're just like on b each other with lacrosse sticks my kids then that I'm not going to be productive I need to go focus my attention if not to save someone's life but to focus my attention because it played three times more than smoking cannabis I'm going, I'm going remember we talked to the beginning that stress can make people smart people do stupid things you may not respond to an email is adequately as you should, which could set it fell on expectations that could come across is wrong in your text to the to the receiver as well. Though no multitasking so flexible office hours advantages his family's priority. The reason I put the disadvantages is the lack of productivity so we all have certain times a day that we are more productive, but that doesn't mean that's when I can work. I may be more productive in mid morning, but as my schedule demands I don't have time to actually work on dso you may not be as productive, but you could be efficient you may not be productive and motivated, but you could still be efficient and use the list to make you more productive allow for change allows for changes in schedule the disadvantages if you allow for changing schedules, your flexible sometimes you just work less hours on certain days, which really isn't necessarily always a bad thing. So to make office hours more productive, like we just talked about, turn everything off x that what you're working on, I make exceptions pans over there looking at me. I am dad at this, I am bad at multitasking. I mean, don't justify it as I'm getting on facebook to market to my clients. No, no, no, like, you know, figure out the times that you're actually going to post and then turn off and get tow working, and this includes watching tv. Um, there is exclusions for listening to music, supposedly that makes people more productive, but I guess you were having thirty second dance parties, your office, you're not very productive, but I so I make exceptions for music and coffee. I love coffee, so that but everything else, I try to focus as much as possible to get it done. If I'm gonna work on family of x minutes to work on a b, c, d e f g, I need to be able to get through them working chunks per task and take a physical ten minute break it sounds kind of really counterintuitive if I only have thirty minutes to take a break but if I have done an album design, I need to get up and remove myself at least for a minute go refill the coffee or let the dog out then come back that's just enough of a break to be able to switch my gears because it kind of resets the mental cycle brain power is used up in like sixty to ninety minutes on any longer on a certain task is kind and that's why that we kind of have set up the segments here on their belts eighty to ninety minutes because that's, when the brain power kind of shuts down on a certain topic any longer than you're just like it's hard enough after lunch as it is, keep a file a positive feedback her inspiration. This sounds really I know this is inspirational feel good part, but any time I get something from a client I always printed off and I stick it in a folder so on the days that I'm having like the client from hell, I'm just having a really bad day and I can't get it together I literally pull it out and look at it because it happens there's mean people in the world, you know, there's all sorts of stuff you just can't get it, you just don't feel like doing any of this go back and look at your inspirational thing and kind of remind you what your why we're there. I pull it out, especially client testimonials, because we asked testimonials to use it for marketing purposes but also can be used to make your work hours a little bit more productive. I'm working a well it an organized area. This is really hard sometimes. If you are working at home, she may have a desk rammed into the corner or you're working at the counter that's often where on my laptop, a land cause I'm in the center hub of the house and I can kind of keep eyes and ears on everyone but that's where my junk drawers are so it's not really an organized area. Let me more productive if I was so when I have that thirty minute block, I need to remove myself to an area that is productive and then make my workspace optimal. This is kind of like the funk shway aspect. I think people are kind of like work wherever you can wherever you land but that's not your going it's more it's a home multitasking thing if it's not optimal it's also working against you and it has that whole cannabis feel of being able, like three times for impairment. Because workers lose according to having pigeon post up to seventy six hours per year because they're in a disorganized workspaces slows you down so much I mean the seventy six hours that's almost two full salary weeks of work that you have lost that has just gone out the window I mean, I think of how much money that is per hour if you've done your calculations and your pricing and everything I mean it's delicate for going ahead that's a lot of money, I don't have time for that, and I like my money. Okay, so this was also from huffington post, and this is more of a feel good thing to find out what your productivity feel is these are the colors that you should include in your office on to kind of help you feel a bit better and organize if you thrive all the optimism on the clarity and warmth or if you need to be more of a peaceful or creative is in purple on this just you can see that it also translates across to the messages that come across in logos I love this graphic uses all the time for marketing, but it works very well because it works with the psychological aspects when you guys sit down toward so doesn't matter if you guys were going to be productive if you've got other barriers there keeping you from it all right, so how does house work get done? How do I get? Yeah, how do I get housework done to what's on the schedule? What is the priority? And can I straighten up while I'm on hold? This is really this is multitasking. But let me clarify that. And when I was on the phone like a sum of the two and a half hours to the arrests today on being bounced around in bounced around, I was able to put it on speaker and wait because all I've been doing is settling this in a chair. I don't that's not the kind of multi tasking on sale and stay away from I was able to clean the kitchen and do laundry and everything, but I was still targeting one of my local to do list items, eh? So what is the priority for today? The actual big picture of this showed in the very beginning where I sort of the calendar, the blue was was household chores, and so for me, that is kind of a cross over of the home list with my business list, I could turn it on and see today's laundry day that's what I'm going to try to get over all the laundry done in one time, so am I trying to brainstorm a blawg future? Standing our blawg whatever I'm gonna write about that day ok? Well, I know it is needs to be for the smith family, but what am I going to say about it? Sitting in my chair is probably not going be very productive for me me personally if I go do throw in a load of laundry and I'm puttering around using brain power helps me and I know that's optimal for me I can formulate in my mind when I want to say I want to get back to the computer got handed out or a lot if I'm sitting in front of my computer I'm probably going to drift off in social media and not even come back to get in that blogger feature done, eh? So that's kind of how I balance getting the house work done at the same time I think I nasa scott schedule that set for households tour days on these air obviously you change it up like mondays or grocery shopping tuesday is dry cleaning pickups. We have the drop off on friday for my husband suits and then I've got the vacuuming and bathrooms and laundry's all intermixed in there as well not like I tell my kids it's only tuesday you have no clean clothes you gotta wait till thursday is being flexible, eh? So what if I have a full time job on top of photography you have less flexibility behind more dedication this is the number one thing that I learned in law school because I was building my business I was in school in the husband was gone I am less flexibility so even if it's not my optimal work time of day I absolutely don't have any desire to do anything on my list suck it up like I had no choice but to do it on dh and then I eat the elephant one bite at a time so you know if things get pushed off that maybe I need to go at a slower pace in this marathon the quicker you know and who cares what someone else is doing next door as long as I'm being effective and productive because they may not have all the outside circumstances that are going on any of the substitute school in there for a full time job and learn to say no it has taken me years to learn this because I'm a people pleaser on dh so I've learned to stay it in very nice ways well, you know I'm maxed out until I had my big thing lately spent we want to get through creative life when I get through there and then we'll see you know and everyone listens like and she told me no but it is true because I knew that the priority on it and I was going to no good to anybody else so what if photography is more than full time right now you're just are not able to fit it into those blocks that you did the method of deduction of family and personal obligations and then you're like my photography is still spilling over go slower with your business plan put a reevaluation your reevaluation policies and move over into local today and figure out what is going on because something's got to give set expectations for times with clients and increase your price or increase your wait time um I don't remember what I meant by wait time but we're increase your price wait wait wait wait time this when I met so you may want to keep the amount of clients you haven't keep your pricing the way it is but you may need to push your client's wait time when they're gonna have the session out a couple months it doesn't really have to be because they inquire now it has to be in the next few weeks as long as you set the expectation and tell them hey I'm booked till such and such but we can still get you on the books you're saying no without saying no ah and so or you could just increase your prices to take last sessions and kind of fit it all into those blocks the one good thing I like about increasing the wait time eyes also it feels that my calendar so I'm going to have war to blawg and talk about and do later, but also as a little kindness, exclusive field who they're booked up bad. Everyone wants them, and everyone wants what they everyone else has on this whole psychological aspect and a re evaluate the volume that you're taking. You don't have to fit say you've been taken four sessions a month for last two years. Well, your kids may have started school, they might start doing in activities, william, actually, they'll evaluate the volume that you're taking just because you want that volume doesn't mean you can do that volume. Andi, you know, you may not be as happy do unless I had become the group's with that, and I ended up being happier because I had better quality of life. Okay, so this is kind of these little flow charts that I brought up. What do I do of a client? Calls me after office hours and remember your office hours could be your strick ninety five what do you want to be? Or they could be flexible one so if they're just happen to not call when you're actually working, what do you d'oh? You can leave until you're you can leave into your office hours and just work like normal go about your day. On dh then you don't need to remind your clients what office hours if you don't have set ones you could just just so reminder to them like if they email at eleven p m at night and I wait to the next day it's kind of a sore reminder that I'm not kind of be on it like that, um, for them or I can listen to the voice mail even though my kids are awakens not initially in my work time so I can evaluate the priority of it and then responded by email if it's urgent ish, I don't really recommend that, but you may have the kids running around or you're on your way to stock and you have no way to respond, and then you can give a gentle reminder of office hours if you do have them. I mean, you could just say that by, you know, hey, I got your email, I'm pms, I was already in bed, you know? And that kind of gives a little national if they know that even though you may physically be working, that doesn't mean that they should expect a response. S so what I do, if a client calls me when the kids are awake and it isn't your work time, you can ignore it and call it back later when you do work, um you can let it go to voicemail and listen to voice mail and then follow up and call back later the the reason I'm putting nor first it's because if I listen to the voice mail right then I'm gonna want to act because I have a monkey on my back it doesn't matter how minimal that that email was even if it was just like switching out one picture online and spread for for the album is going to be in the back of my mind while I'm playing cards of the kids that I need to go do that which is so done so something small but it's because it's the business and you care about your baby so I think ignoring is really the best way to go unless it happens to be something you know give me super important what sorry that kind of went off what I'd do if a client calls me and I accidentally answer I don't know how many times I say I'm not going to answer the phone I did this two years ago with a wedding client was a really I just increase my prices I really want to be really on it with everyone and I actually answered the phone when the father of the bride called me and the kids are running around I was like what do I do? I can't just hang up on the dude I guess that could have been like and, like, how happened? He probably would have never blake he hadn't paid yet. The lady is still one of the money, and so I took option two, which I don't really recommend. I hid in the bathroom and our big tub, and I kind of was talking to him and I'm like, yes, sir, while the kids are kind of there, there were older, they weren't babies, so they were pretty self sufficient, but I could hear them going. Mommy, mommy? And where are you there? Like, they just wanted to show me a picture. They had this color and I'm talking to him going, yeah, the wedding's going be phenomenal. And then there's a leather bound album. I'm like huddle in the wet bathtub that I had just bathe the babies in because I had accidentally answered the phone and I tried to finish it is quickly as I could, um and I don't think he has any the wiser. He still booked me, but or you could take the other route which I recommend is asking if you can call them back and I got to say, hey, once I can, you know I want to get into my office. Or I'm headed to the office you don't need to know that's in your front room I mean I could be headed that direction here in a minute put on my slippers and walk that way then wait till it's quiet like my afternoon block I could say hey, I have a block this afternoon kind of give you a call back you don't have to justify yourself if at all, but it is better to be able to focus if you can as much as possible the other day I had that one two, three o'clock they have in the afternoon I scheduled client call and the kids normally always sleep well the baby just cited a wakeup started profusely screaming in the middle of it all I could do was apologize on dh they understood that it was is it just his life? It happens by the way that a time is that life having my husband supposed to be telling working that day didn't get teo and I didn't I should've rescheduled but I needed to get the client thing taken care of and I didn't reschedule the baby woke up but they were understandable because she's the mom as well and so it's also I apologize and acknowledge it instead of just trying to like yell over the baby then it worked out so what if home life gets in the way of work just accept that it happens and apologize like I said, and consider throwing in a little extra for that person. I end up falling up saying, hey, I'm and provide a little extra I really am sorry I didn't have to she understood, but it was a gesture of goodwill that I was able to provide at a low cost to me in order to be able to let her know that I still was. I'm a professional, and it shouldn't have happened, but I did, and it was a fault of my own. And so I kind of rectified the situation with that. Okay, so questions. Is there anything specific scheduling issues that people might have questions on? I mean, it's pretty self is pretty straightforward. I think the biggest thing, the reason I include this is because people don't actually do it. They're like, oh, it's really common sense, but no, we actually I wonder how many of you have asked you to pull up your phones? He was showing me your schedule. It was actually carved out by the day. Anybody now? Okay. So now there's an action night over you all to take home any question questions for sure. So this is from a tough total, one of our regular, so thanks to them as a stay at home mom, how do you justify the time put towards your business? I was filled guilty and no matter how much, how much, our little it always seems difficult to find a balance. Well, I guess the question is, does your family need the income? I am. Why are you doing it? Like for me? I thrive on being a business owner. This is something that helps me to retain who I am. So I make the time, but I do without being a detriment to my family. So, like, I do this priority in this way, but it doesn't mean that the guilts not there, it doesn't necessarily mean that, you know, I do sometimes have to miss soccer practice for session or something and that's ok, and just accepting the fact that that is the obligations and commitments that you've put forth in is that quality of life aspect cool, awesome. And we're into the app that you said that it was callin mob c l e l e n m o b kallen lob kind of integrates that all together, eh? So that you guys can have that on hand as well. One thing is if you are going to use that online booking programs, make sure that you stay upon it to make sure that its current another reason why I'm glad you brought that up. I wanted to touch on something if clients were utilizing that as well that you're not showing that all that you actually have available because it's kind of going to repeat do the whole idea that you're sought after so anytime we're going talk about client responses and how to inspire that and to make it easier for you to manage but is too on lee put a couple of days it's available out there because you always reserve the right toe work at other times as well if a question like kind of encapsulates the end outsourcing of skills as well is scheduling s oh there are there any skills that you think should be prioritizes things you should stay? You should stay engaged in as the business center to keep your hand effectively on the pulse of your business and your photography work client relations etcetera so social media emailing back editing what skills do you think you should be in? I take the client management and interaction is a huge one I know sometimes people have assistance who become them and that works as long as it's not a person that separate and devoid of you I think it's really important like for these few days I don't have an assistant but for these few days I heard someone manage email because there's no way I was going to be able to manage to email for me but because I firmly believe that something that I really need to have one on one contact with clients because it is an emotional connection I if I was going to just show up at the session and shoot and then then pass them off to a sales person which isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as I put a lot of time into it then they're not going to feel the connection with rage. Banky on def I'm trying to facilitate individual relationship that's one thing but if I'm presenting it as you're getting really a ship of the studio you know when you're having a lot of working parts and then the expectation is that they can I have multiple people for for me, for individual photography business I would probably outsource editing first one of those types of things and keep more of the client management warren house because your client is not going to know here the one who processed the images they're not gonna feel the emotional connection you had ending the images I just had a quick question when you were talking about getting back to clients or booking I was a little confused as to the order of that do you send that inquiry first and then once you speak to them you send the client guide when they come into me my mind is a symbol contact forms that then it doesn't have any questions it just is asking their name there email and pretty much note section so whatever they provide ok so then my response is going to be tailored asking them questions then when they respond with that I'm able to say oh good we can do a couple session here if you look on you know the second guide here's the entire checklist so it's kind of step to at that point I've already had another point of contact because I don't want to throw that pricing out there I want to try to pat it as much as possible and I didn't want to say we since you got to be the hot seat person we have a planner from color veil that is a phenomenal huge planner itt's like this think it's got all sorts of checklists and you get to have that for being my hot hot hot person today cool awesome thank you on but more questions are there if you check off to do list check thing do you is there chocolatey treat yeah actually we talked about that you need to reward yourself but you're getting a reward if you're completing something that's gonna have your return you're going to end up being able to repay the money in the time yes. Oh, yes. And if you want to include chocolate in that, yes, you're not multitasking.