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Proud pup mom, type A creative, lover of the outdoors, Top Chef fan girl, and wedding and portrait photographer. Welcome to the blog!
HI, I'M RACHEL!
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micro WEDDINGS
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Starting a business can be a lot of things: inspiring, fulfilling, fun, thrilling, scary (OK, terrifying!), enriching, heartbreaking, I could go on & on. I have learned so much, about myself & about business, through the process of becoming a #solopreneur, and I *know* I wouldn’t be where I am today without having worked with a business coach. Today I am sharing five benefits I have experienced through working with a business coach.
A little over a year ago I was offered the opportunity to work with a group of up-and-coming life coaches, coaches in training, if you will. Me & a few others were to be these coaches’ guinea pigs, and in turn, we got free coaching for nine months! Each month we would get a new coach with whom we’d have weekly hour-long phone calls, to discuss whatever was on our minds or hearts. I decided to make the absolute most out of the situation & used the time with my coaches to work on turning my idea of having my own photography business into reality. And that is just what we did!
A little over a year later, my business is thriving & I continue to learn more about how to keep it & myself growing, through osmosis, but also by continuing to work with a business coach. I realized that a coach was such a wonderful resource & decided to continue on as a paying client.
The lessons I’ve learned while working with a business coach have been integral to my success, so today, I wanted to share some tips & tricks with you that will hopefully enrich your business experience.
1. Define Goals & Work Backwards
I mentioned this back in January in my post on accomplishing your goals, but I was never a goal setter. I didn’t understand what the big deal was about goals. Working with a coach changed all of that for me, so now I’m a firm believer that setting goals is really the only way to move yourself forward to where you want to be.
But setting a goal isn’t all you have to do. Assigning a due date to each goal is key. You can have all the goals you want, but if you aren’t going to tell yourself by when you want to accomplish it, it’s either going to take forever to get there, or it’s just never going to get done. Establish a goal, set a due date.
From that due date, work backwards to set milestones. If I want to be a circus performer by June 2017, what do I have to do to get there? Some milestones I’d have to meet might be:
By May 1, 2017, I need to audition for a circus.
By April 1, 2017, I need to contact hiring agents for circuses so I can get an audition.
By March 1, 2016, I need to have a list of hiring agents for circuses I want to join
By February 1, 2016, I need to be an expert trapeze artist
By January 1, 2016, I need to have a list of tricks to work on that will get me into the circus
You get the point!
2. Accountability Is Key
So you have your goal, due date, and milestones. But who is going to hold you accountable for reaching your goals & working on your milestones? Find someone you can rely on to enroll in helping you reach your goal.
This is big in the fitness world, I’ve noticed. You’re more likely to get up at 5am to go to the gym if you know your bestie is waiting for you there. Well, you’re more likely to do anything if you know there is someone who will ask you, “so, how is it coming on your milestones? Did you book that trapeze class yet? Oh you haven’t? Well when are you going to do it?… OK I’m checking back in with you next week.” Pick someone who will hold your feet to the fire & be firm with you.
3. Circumstances Shouldn’t Dictate Action (Or Inaction)
This is a big one for me. If I miss accomplishing a goal or milestone, or even checking an item off my to-do list, it usually comes down to some type of excuse. “Well, I had an argument with my boyfriend, and I was feeling blah, so I sat on the couch & watched back to back episodes of [insert any number of Netflix shows here] for an entire day.” Or “I had a headache so I decided to just rest for the evening.” You get the picture.
Excuses are just that: excuses. Shit still has to get done! (Speaking of excuses, please pardon my ‘French’.) If you have set a goal for yourself, it obviously was important to you, so don’t let your circumstances dictate your ability to accomplish your goals. So you had an argument with your boyfriend? Well you still have to go to trapeze class, and you still have to do a stretching session to warm up, and you still need meet with that circus coach (or whatever… haha). You still need to do the things you set up for yourself to be successful, no matter what your circumstances. Otherwise, all of those excuses will build up & before you know it, you’re living your excuses instead of living your dreams.
4. Turn Breakdowns into Break-Throughs
We all have breakdowns – and by this I don’t mean a mental breakdown – I mean, just something that didn’t work how you wanted or something isn’t going how you expected. We can do two things with breakdowns: wallow in them & let them stop us, or turn them into break-throughs.
So you’re training to be a circus performer, but you broke your left pinky toe. You could either tell yourself, “Oh no! This is disastrous! I’m never going to be able to train for the circus with a broken toe! I have to cancel all my practice sessions & put my dreams of running off to the circus on hold.” OR you could use the opportunity to train other parts of your body that don’t involve your pinky toe. You could work on your stretching goals. You could study about the circus. Switch around some milestones so that you’re working on things that don’t involve your pinky toe now, and working on things that are more physical later when the toe is healed. Use the opportunity to learn about things you may never have approached had you not had this broken pinky toe.
5. Acknowledge Yourself
My favorite part of every phone call with my coach(es) has always been the very end where they acknowledge me for… whatever I want! How often in life do we take the time to think about how great of a job we’re doing, for all of the effort we’re making, or for our positive attitude when dealing with less than ideal circumstances? If you’re anything like me, not often. This part of working with a business coach has helped me to stop & think about those things, and really made a difference in how I approach myself.
Being a business owner is all of those things I said at the beginning of this post, and we deserve to be acknowledged for our effort, our heart, our dedication. We don’t all have someone asking us what we’d like to be acknowledged for, so I recommend asking yourself. Ask yourself, “what do I want to be acknowledged for?” Then right a list of those things. After you write the list, talk to yourself in the third person & acknowledge all of the things you asked for. And expand upon those things, because there is always more to say.
Do this at the end of each day, and I guarantee it will change your outlook on yourself & your business.
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OK you caught me! I used the trapeze example as an excuse to use my old trapeze photos! I obviously didn’t take the pictures, and photo credit goes to various photographers.
HELLO@RACHELEHPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
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Rachel is a wedding and portrait photographer
Serving brilliant, elegant couples in Washington D.C. + Beyond
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