Preventing Future Burnout with Guest Johanna Hribal
In this episode of the Wealth Witches Podcast, host Katelyn Magnuson is joined by the inspiring Johanna Hribal, a former educator turned burnout prevention coach. The conversation delves into Johanna's personal journey from experiencing severe burnout as a public school teacher and photographer to creating a balanced and fulfilling career.
Johanna introduces her program, designed to help photographers and other business owners prevent future burnout by managing their workloads and setting intentional goals. She shares practical strategies for achieving a healthier work-life balance, the importance of setting boundaries, and how to maintain mental health while running a business.
Katelyn and Johanna also discuss the challenges of burnout in high-stress industries, ways to diversify income streams, and the significance of knowing your numbers to create stability. Whether you're a business owner struggling with burnout or looking to prevent it, this episode offers valuable insights and actionable advice for creating a more sustainable and fulfilling professional life.
Key Takeaways
- Recognizing and addressing the early signs of burnout.
- The importance of setting boundaries to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
- Knowing your financial needs to plan effectively and avoid burnout.
- Diversifying income streams for greater stability in business.
- Prioritizing self-care and outsourcing tasks to reduce stress and improve well-being.
Guest Bio:
Johanna Hribal is a former burned-out educator turned educator on burnout. After experiencing two consecutive years of burnout while working as a full-time public school teacher and photographer, her mental health suffered greatly. In less than a year, she paid off her debt, saved for an emergency fund, and left teaching to pursue photography full-time. Over the past two years, she has consistently booked clients without overbooking, leading to the creation of her 6-week course, Balance Not Burnout, which helps photographers prevent burnout and achieve a healthier work-life balance.
Connect with Johanna:
Instagram: @balancenotburnoutphotographers
Program: Momentum
Listeners who mention this podcast can save $400 on my group coaching program for photographers, Momentum with code WITCHES. Offer expires 12/31/24.
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Music credit: Neon Fairies by Wolves
Transcript
Hello, and welcome magical creatures to the Wealth Witches podcast.
Speaker:This is a place where we brew up financial empowerment and mix in a little
Speaker:sprinkle of magic. I'm Caitlin Magnuson, your guide on this
Speaker:enchanted journey to financial enlightenment. Here, we honor all
Speaker:identities and invoke our inner witches to create holistic wealth and prosperity.
Speaker:So grab your crystals, open your minds, and let's get ready to conjure some
Speaker:financial clarity clarity.
Speaker:Welcome back to the Wealth Witches podcast. Today, we
Speaker:have Johanna Riebel. She is a guest that I'm
Speaker:so incredibly excited for. She's a formerly burned out
Speaker:educator turned educator on burnout. After experiencing 2
Speaker:consecutive years of burnout while working as a full time public school teacher and a
Speaker:full time photographer, her mental health suffered greatly, and she was
Speaker:at her most unhappy. She decided she couldn't continue to live this
Speaker:way, so in less than a year, she paid off her debt, saved up for
Speaker:an emergency fund, and left her teaching career to pursue photography full
Speaker:time. In the last 2 years, she's found a way to be fully booked each
Speaker:month consistently without overbooking in any particular season.
Speaker:This led to the creation of her 6 week course, balance not burnout,
Speaker:which helps photographers to prevent future burnout, create a healthier work life
Speaker:balance, and ultimately enjoy a more fulfilling life both within and outside
Speaker:of their businesses. Joanna, thank you so much for
Speaker:being here. I know I found you on Instagram and I was like, we need
Speaker:to have a chat because in the accounting profession and I think so
Speaker:many professions, photography with the wedding industry, we're seeing so
Speaker:much burnout, so much seasonality, that roller coaster
Speaker:that you were talking about of just, like, up and down. And when I'm
Speaker:busy, when I have money, when this comes through, like, what do I do in
Speaker:the off season? So thank you for being here. I'm really excited to have this
Speaker:chat today. Yeah. Thank you so much for inviting me, Caitlin. And
Speaker:I definitely since I created this account and this course, balance not
Speaker:burnout, although it's targeted towards wedding industry, photographers specifically,
Speaker:so many of my friends and other peers in my community who are business owners
Speaker:have told me how much they relate to it. And burnout is something
Speaker:that, especially in America, all of us have experienced at one
Speaker:point or another. And for a lot of industries, like the wedding industry or like
Speaker:you were saying, financial industries, there are definitely those seasons of
Speaker:burnout that everybody goes through, and it's very difficult for
Speaker:people. So I feel really passionate about helping people find more stability
Speaker:so they can enjoy their life outside of their business.
Speaker:Because I think most of us got into business to actually have it support our
Speaker:lives and not let our businesses run our lives. So I think that's so
Speaker:easy to get caught up in the loop of not remembering
Speaker:that's why we did it. Mhmm. We're not Absolutely. Yeah. We're
Speaker:like, I yeah. We're like, I created a business, so I don't have to be
Speaker:working 247, and then we end up working even more than that, and
Speaker:we're more stressed than we were working for someone else. So, absolutely,
Speaker:I resonate with that. Oh, I
Speaker:the last what? 4 years now? Yeah. We're going on
Speaker:almost 4 years since since the pandemic. Right? And we had all of those years
Speaker:of, oh, this isn't normal. This is the, you know, this is what it is.
Speaker:The name here is the this is the that. And then we hit this here.
Speaker:And it's like, oh, is this gonna be are we back to normal? And I
Speaker:think normal is looking so different for a lot of us because we've gone through
Speaker:the wedding boom, the feast and famine to the
Speaker:absolute extreme over the last couple of years.
Speaker:And I think it's made a lot of us realize that we're craving more
Speaker:income stability. We're craving more stability in our lives.
Speaker:And I would love to chat with you about what that
Speaker:looks like and how we can be creating more of that and
Speaker:getting getting out of that cycle of the busy versus slow
Speaker:season, the feast and the famine, and that roller coaster.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah. Let's dive into it. Wonderful. So I
Speaker:know, like I said, I think we were talking before this, but I relate so
Speaker:much to a lot of wedding industry professional because we have our own seasonality. We
Speaker:have our own feast and famine and both cash flow wise and work wise. And
Speaker:so there's a lot that we've done behind the scenes to even that out because
Speaker:I don't think that that's good for nervous system regulation and for
Speaker:growing a team and having because payroll's consistent. So cash flow,
Speaker:if they're inconsistent. And, like, builder, I'm, like, consistent. So if you have this cash
Speaker:flow, like, how are we working to
Speaker:even that out, to distribute it, to feel comfortable
Speaker:with what we're doing in our work, and to take control instead of
Speaker:feeling like we're falling victim to the whims of
Speaker:client bookings. So what have you done,
Speaker:Johanna, on your side to do that in your business?
Speaker:So, yes, I love that analogy of, like, we feel like we're the victim of
Speaker:this burnout cycle of wait. I like to call it a roller coaster of
Speaker:burnout. We're like, oh, this is just how the industry is. This is the busy
Speaker:season, and this is the dead season. So a lot of wedding industry
Speaker:professionals and other people have seasonal type of careers. They will have
Speaker:a a period of several months where you're slowly and very quickly
Speaker:increasing how many clients you're taking on. You get to a point where your
Speaker:mental health is suffering. You're so exhausted. You're working all the time, and you're just
Speaker:so drained that I've seen people leave their industries because of the
Speaker:burnout. And then you have this dead period of anywhere from
Speaker:2 to 6 months where you don't know if you're gonna be able to pay
Speaker:your bills. So most people are depending on that, roller coaster on the
Speaker:uphill to make all the money they need for the slow season. But what
Speaker:happens is your mental health and your energy is so drained because
Speaker:you're overbooking that if you weren't doing that, you could be
Speaker:planning ahead and strategizing for a more stable income in the slow
Speaker:season. So the first thing that I did was I figured out
Speaker:how much money did I need to make to cover my cost of doing business
Speaker:and my personal expenses and pay myself each month. And then
Speaker:I looked at the numbers of, for me as a wedding photographer, I do a
Speaker:combination of wedding photography and other types of portraits. So I said,
Speaker:how many weddings do I need to book each month and how many sessions each
Speaker:month to be able to meet this number? And I kind of have my
Speaker:number the number that I would like to pay myself, which is kind of more
Speaker:of my goal. And figuring out what that is each and every
Speaker:month, first of all, is a huge relief because instead of
Speaker:saying, I need to book a wedding every single weekend and
Speaker:some, some months I need to book 2 weddings a weekend to be able
Speaker:to survive through the winter. I can say, okay. I can
Speaker:book 2 weddings per month, which means I have 2 weekends free for
Speaker:myself to enjoy and rest and recover.
Speaker:And then I need to book this many sessions to meet that monthly
Speaker:income. It is a huge drop in the number of clients that you need to
Speaker:take on. And when you actually look at the numbers of you know, if you
Speaker:have proper pricing and everything, it's a lot less than what
Speaker:most people take on. But most people, I think the first mistake is
Speaker:that they don't actually have a monthly income goal. So that's the
Speaker:first thing that in the course I help people to determine. What is your monthly
Speaker:income needs and goals? What does that translate to as far
Speaker:as bookings? And a lot of people find that it's so easy
Speaker:to hit that goal every month where they don't have to be on this
Speaker:roller coaster. They are in control. I like to give them a new visual of,
Speaker:taking a little ride on a canoe where you are in control of the
Speaker:oars. You might have a little wake from a little speedboat every once in a
Speaker:while, but you are in control of that canoe of where it's going.
Speaker:It's relatively smooth and steady throughout the entire year instead of
Speaker:a roller coaster where you can kinda see the the whole coaster from
Speaker:the outside before you get on the ride, but you don't know where those ups
Speaker:and downs and loop the loops will be and how bad it will hurt your
Speaker:neck afterwards. Right? So that's kinda the first
Speaker:step is to really know your numbers, start to plan
Speaker:more intentionally, book more intentionally. And then from there,
Speaker:you can start to get yourself off of that roller coaster. I
Speaker:knew we would get along great. One of my favorite things is to say know
Speaker:your numbers because it's so easy to I think
Speaker:especially in the wedding vendor industry, just put
Speaker:blinders on. Right? And, like, dive in, and you're doing the work, and you're mired
Speaker:in it. And you're like, well, I'm able to pay the bills, so it's fine
Speaker:for now. Abs Are you are you overworking? Are you
Speaker:balancing? Are you paying attention to what you actually need to be doing
Speaker:instead of just, like, it's fine. It's fine until it's not. And then
Speaker:everything feels like it's crumbling. Right. And here's the thing that
Speaker:it's hard for us to turn away money, especially when a lot of women,
Speaker:especially in the industry are or women in general who are small business
Speaker:owners are sometimes the primary caretaker or financial support of
Speaker:their family. And so when somebody's offering you money and
Speaker:you look at your calendar and you say, well, technically, I have this day open.
Speaker:I don't have anything going on. Or, sure, I could use an extra couple 100
Speaker:thou or a couple $1,000. Just pull off a couple extra yeah. A
Speaker:couple extra 100. But, yeah, I could use a couple extra
Speaker:$1,000 this weekend if I just take on this one extra wedding, but 1
Speaker:becomes 2, 2 becomes 3, and we don't have a
Speaker:boundary of saying no. That's how so many of us get into that. So,
Speaker:yeah, knowing your numbers and being clear on that and knowing that your pricing is
Speaker:gonna support you allows you to say
Speaker:no with confidence and know that you still have income coming
Speaker:in, that you're gonna feed your family. You're still gonna have enough money to do
Speaker:the things that you love. No. I think that that's so important. I know that
Speaker:I found myself doing that too where it's like, oh, but are you in a
Speaker:turn away? Didn't you set the boundary that you're no longer accepting new tax
Speaker:clients? You're no longer accepting x y z. And then they pop in, and it's
Speaker:like, oh, but we could. But are we gonna regret
Speaker:it? Are we Right. Then be, you know, working overtime or
Speaker:working outside of the hours that we wanna be working or sacrificing time with our
Speaker:families or time with ourselves? And, honestly, that one's the most important for
Speaker:me is I think so many of us, especially women,
Speaker:tend to not set aside the time for ourselves. You know, we'll we'll do something.
Speaker:We'll prioritize our family. We'll we'll prioritize our spouse. We'll prioritize something.
Speaker:Where are we prioritizing ourselves in all of that as well? Because it's
Speaker:so easy. I know that everyone's like, you can't pour from an empty cup, but
Speaker:I also think that, like, you deserve to have a full cup just for yourself,
Speaker:not to be able to be a value to someone else outside. Like,
Speaker:that's an added bonus, but, like, you should be valuable to yourself. You should
Speaker:be nourished, fulfilled, and
Speaker:able to confidently stand with those boundaries. And like you said, I think
Speaker:knowing your numbers is such an important piece of that. Because if you don't,
Speaker:it's going to let you just continue to spin. Right? And
Speaker:whereas you said, roller coaster and not know what's coming, and so you don't know
Speaker:what's gonna be the next step. So, like, maybe you do have to take this.
Speaker:So what in your experience of when it comes to the
Speaker:seasonality side of things and being on that roller coaster, So
Speaker:you're, like, you're working in, photography sessions or portrait
Speaker:sessions outside of weddings. So that's something that can be more year
Speaker:round depending on where you're at and depending on whether other
Speaker:factors that come in. What other things
Speaker:can photographers be doing, or other business owners listening to this,
Speaker:to help stabilize their income and stabilize
Speaker:their lives and their workflow throughout the year? So
Speaker:there are so many ways. This is also something I talk about in my 6
Speaker:week course, balance not burnout for photographers. So I'll I
Speaker:spend a lot of time talking about diversifying your income. So for
Speaker:me, I do wedding photography primarily, so
Speaker:there's seasons for that. But then during the winter, typically, that's when it's a little
Speaker:bit slower. That's when I work with a lot of small businesses. I do product
Speaker:photography, food photography. Throughout the spring and fall. I
Speaker:do senior photography. And in the winter, I'm more open
Speaker:to doing work that I don't typically take on, like family photography,
Speaker:maternity. Although, typically, I work with past clients for that. But if I
Speaker:do get the occasional inquiry in the winter and I'm a little bit slower, then
Speaker:I'm happy to take that on again because I have the space for it. And
Speaker:it's not that I'm not putting it on top of an already full schedule
Speaker:and doing things that I normally would turn away. So it's
Speaker:about looking at how you can diversify your income, planning ahead for
Speaker:those highs and lows if you know that you have months
Speaker:that are gonna be slower. I've helped my clients in the past, my
Speaker:course students, to plan mini sessions ahead of those slow
Speaker:seasons. They already have everything prepared. And when they get there, they already have
Speaker:clients booked, and they know they're gonna make money. And so during the
Speaker:busy season, they feel a sense of relief that they don't have to
Speaker:be taking on every single person who reaches out last minute in the
Speaker:fall. And I also teach my clients that you can
Speaker:actually generate more revenue in your business by working
Speaker:by continuing to work with your past clients than by
Speaker:acquiring new clients. So if you reach out to your past clients
Speaker:I've had so many couples who have done their engagement photos, wedding photos. They've
Speaker:asked me if I do maternity photos, newborn family sessions.
Speaker:It is so great to continue that relationship and
Speaker:provide more value to them in the future. They already know,
Speaker:like, and trust you, and it's so easy to make that sale.
Speaker:Especially, a lot of times, they come to you. So that's what I encourage
Speaker:clients to do is find ways to nurture your relationships with your
Speaker:past clients and not just from a point of
Speaker:I'm just trying to make more money off of you. Doing it out of out
Speaker:of a place of integrity, especially when it's like your dream clients, people that
Speaker:you so enjoyed working with. And after their wedding day, you're like, I wish I
Speaker:could just keep working with them. And the great news is that you can. There's
Speaker:always an opportunity. So, you know, those are two aspects of what I teach
Speaker:in the course that are relatively easy. It doesn't cost
Speaker:a lot of, you know, paying for ads or anything. It's just nurturing
Speaker:relationships. Absolutely. No. I think that we're a
Speaker:referral based business. And not only between referrals from clients that
Speaker:we absolutely adore, but continuing to work with clients. Because I think it's so
Speaker:easy if you're a wedding photographer to look at and be
Speaker:like, okay. Wedding's done. Like, that chapter is closed.
Speaker:And if you're there's so
Speaker:much less effort, I think. Mhmm. And you
Speaker:even said that need is needed to be put in, that when you
Speaker:can like, I love I love so many of
Speaker:our clients. And we've had clients leave because they've had
Speaker:something change in their business. Mhmm. That has nothing to do with us.
Speaker:We've kept in touch because I still like them as human beings. Yeah. You know
Speaker:how many times they'll refer someone to us? They'll come back when their needs
Speaker:have changed? Like, because we're being a human being
Speaker:and we're Mhmm. Existing and we're not nurturing for the future sale, but we're
Speaker:nurturing because we truly enjoy them and
Speaker:it's just such an amazing way to have a community that supports you
Speaker:And I know, having worked with a lot of photographers over the years
Speaker:for my brand and for personal and for wedding and all of that, it's so
Speaker:nice to have someone that you trust, that you know, that knows you, that
Speaker:can follow along, you know, as, like, through the different stages of your life. Like,
Speaker:what a no brainer. Yes. And, going back a
Speaker:little bit to the scaling and creating more stability, it's so much
Speaker:easier to nurture those relationships when you have, let's say, 10
Speaker:clients a month versus 30 clients. And some of those people
Speaker:you may have just taken on last minute because you're like, sure. What's an extra
Speaker:$500? What's an extra $2,000? And you're just trying to
Speaker:make the sale. And so when you're just focused on, I just I'm gonna say
Speaker:yes because I have a hard time saying no or because it's extra money
Speaker:and why not, then there's not as much of a chance for you to
Speaker:nurture because you weren't booking that intentionally. And so,
Speaker:yeah, when you are booking intentionally with your clients, you're really trying to make sure
Speaker:you're the right fit for them, then you do have the opportunity to continue
Speaker:to nurture. And when you have a more limited amount of clients each month, it's
Speaker:so much easier to nurture because you're focusing your attention on a smaller
Speaker:quantity of people. Absolutely. I think that
Speaker:something that can be challenging and I know that I went through this evolution in
Speaker:my business from taking on anyone that wanted to work
Speaker:with me in the very beginning stages. Right? Whether they were the right sit, whether
Speaker:they were in our like, in the services that we offer, whether we were making
Speaker:all these custom things. It was just it was exhausting, But you're getting
Speaker:going. You're figuring out what you're doing. It was a really difficult
Speaker:transition for a while, and I'd love your thoughts on this, but it was difficult
Speaker:to stand in first, to identify the boundaries. Mhmm.
Speaker:What I wanted, who I wanted to work with, what I wanted in my personal
Speaker:and professional life, how those were supported, and then to
Speaker:stick to it. And it can still be a little bit scary every now and
Speaker:then. Right? Because I have July November are 2 slowest month of the company.
Speaker:I know it. I put a reminder on my calendar. I planned I have things
Speaker:during those times, whether it's downtime, revamping, courses. Like, there are things that I do
Speaker:that I love. Mhmm. But it still freaks me out. And I've been in business
Speaker:for 9 years now. And it's it's easy to
Speaker:go. Oh, no. Do I wanna take on x y z client? Like,
Speaker:because there it feels like the universe is, like, testing you during those times.
Speaker:Right? Hey. Here's this carrot of a client. Like, but I don't wanna work it.
Speaker:But it's but should I? But it's money. So, like, how
Speaker:I have my own method, for this madness. But how do
Speaker:you recommend that someone, like, a, set those boundaries or
Speaker:those parameters, and then, b, like, stands within them when things can be a little
Speaker:bit scary or things can feel a little bit scarce? Yeah.
Speaker:That's a great question. So I'll tell you as far as sticking to your
Speaker:boundaries. For me, when I left my teaching business and I started, you
Speaker:know, going full time with photography, I wanted to have one day a week that
Speaker:I committed to as a day off, and that was the hardest
Speaker:thing for me to do. It probably took me several months to actually take an
Speaker:entire day off without opening my inbox, without getting on my
Speaker:computer, without working. So being flexible with yourself, making
Speaker:small steps towards progress. And in those slow months,
Speaker:you can be intentional about what you're doing. Even though it might be
Speaker:slower, you can take advantage of that, and maybe that's the month that you go
Speaker:on vacation. If every single July is slow, that's when you take a
Speaker:month long vacation. And maybe you can also
Speaker:be flexible with yourself. Right? Because if you're on that smooth sailing
Speaker:canoe, there's gonna be occasional ebbs and flows, but it's not gonna be
Speaker:extreme. So you might say, okay. Well, July November are
Speaker:2 slow months. So how can I split the client load that I would
Speaker:take on in those months and distribute them evenly throughout the other
Speaker:months? Or how can I add on something throughout the
Speaker:year or plan ahead for these months, offer something special that
Speaker:I don't offer throughout the rest of the year? And so, again, when you have
Speaker:a more even schedule throughout the year, you have the time, energy, and space to
Speaker:create that versus if you're spending 6 months of the year pushing
Speaker:yourself to your limit and then afterwards, you spend 6 months recovering, you
Speaker:have no time to strategize for that. So so, yeah, being flexible with yourself
Speaker:as you adjust to a new, kind of flow and rhythm in your
Speaker:business and looking ahead and planning. If you know that you
Speaker:have certain slow months throughout the year, try to plan something out of the ordinary
Speaker:that your clients would go for or, you know, find another
Speaker:way to take advantage of that slow month by taking a vacation or doing something
Speaker:for yourself. I love that so much. I don't I
Speaker:I actually vacation in May and take that time off, but I love using
Speaker:July for revamp of everything.
Speaker:Mhmm. But I think that I think both of those
Speaker:options are fantastic. Like, a, what are you offering that you could be offering?
Speaker:B, what can you do that's special for yourself? Where can you, like, nurture? Where
Speaker:can you take we what was it?
Speaker:Right around Labor Day. We have other deadlines, so that we, as a team, can't
Speaker:take some time off during then, but all of our clients almost exclusively go
Speaker:radio silent for, like, a 10 day window.
Speaker:And what should happen? We can get the most work done
Speaker:of, like, the entire year in that 10 day window, and it's always a little
Speaker:bit disconcerting. Okay. What's going on? But I think everyone's, like, wrapping up
Speaker:summer or school starting. Like, there's all these factors, and I think it's really easy
Speaker:to to tell ourselves these stories. Right? Right. About what's going
Speaker:on. And same thing with, like, small month, same thing with seasonality. Like, there's all
Speaker:of these stories that we tell. And one of the things that I love about
Speaker:working in the numbers world, I love data.
Speaker:Shocker. I love data. And so being able to look back
Speaker:at past years and use that to future
Speaker:forecast is so nice. Like, every time
Speaker:that I get into a chunk where I'm like, oh, God.
Speaker:What just happened? Because we've done a lot. Like, we used to have huge
Speaker:swings in that in our income. And our income now is more like
Speaker:this and a little like this, and it's much less stressful,
Speaker:but it's still you'll hit that. It's like, we can look back, and we can
Speaker:see that for each of last 8 years, this has happened every time. And so
Speaker:then, when I sit down and I plan the next year out, that lets
Speaker:me go, okay. Cool. July is when we tend to hire staff.
Speaker:It's a great time because we have capacity. Like, there's
Speaker:there's time to be doing that, and it lets me
Speaker:plan and integrity instead of just, like, willy nilly,
Speaker:like, throwing offers out or hitting
Speaker:on that client that's an Amazon seller because that's not a client type
Speaker:that we work with. I love them. I'm all for it, but, like, we're not
Speaker:set up for that. But without fail, I swear about every July,
Speaker:we get someone that pops up. It's like, hi. I'd
Speaker:love to be a client. I'm like, oh, no. Not the right
Speaker:fit. Yeah. Not the right fit. Yeah. Like, thank you so much for thinking of
Speaker:us, but not the right fit. So yeah. I think I think having
Speaker:that roadmap, really, of, like, what you
Speaker:can be doing, how you can be spending it, like because is your income fine
Speaker:the rest of the year? Are you good? If you want to be having more
Speaker:income stability, cool. You have a plan to make some additional offers Yeah. And some
Speaker:things that are just a no brainer or add ons. But if you are good,
Speaker:then, like, why would you not take some time of any sort for
Speaker:yourself? Mhmm. And there are months where I will have slower
Speaker:months in spite of you know, maybe I am making efforts to do
Speaker:special offers and things, and I might have a slow month still. And I'm like,
Speaker:you know what? I'm fine. I have enough to pay myself for
Speaker:this month. I have enough to cover my expenses, and I would rather have the
Speaker:time and take an extra trip or just rest at home or
Speaker:just have time off. And so, you know, kind of learning
Speaker:what your what your boundaries are and what you prefer and what's more
Speaker:valuable to you. And, also, you know, going back to tracking,
Speaker:you know, past years, that's also something else we do in the course. So we
Speaker:figure out, you know, what are your monthly income goals, and we also look at,
Speaker:you know, each month in the past year. How many sessions did you book each
Speaker:month? When were inquiries coming in? So that you can have that
Speaker:data of when are the natural ebbs and flows, what types of sessions are you
Speaker:booking in these months. Because I did also see, like you said, around Labor
Speaker:Day, other photographers I know were freaking out. They were like, oh my gosh. My
Speaker:engagement's super low right now. And then the other day in a local Facebook
Speaker:group, people were like, how are your bookings for next year? I'm freaking out. I
Speaker:don't have a lot. But right now is the lull. And in October
Speaker:through December or January even, people are gonna be getting engaged,
Speaker:and people are gonna want photos. So people do get really freaked out
Speaker:by that that little lull when the rest of the year inquiries are
Speaker:flooding in. But if you keep track of these things, you will look
Speaker:back and say, okay. This is exactly what happened last year.
Speaker:I yes. Like, people preach it at everyone because, again,
Speaker:we do the same thing. Come and, actually, 2 weeks ago, I
Speaker:went, oh, wow. Things are really slow. Guess what? You had, like, 6 inquiries in
Speaker:the last week. I'm like, oh, that's right. Here it comes. So
Speaker:anytime I noticed something like that that happens, I add a note to my calendar
Speaker:about a week before that. Mhmm. Just a little tiny, like, note reminder
Speaker:on there because I live off of my Google Calendar. Like, my entire
Speaker:life is in there, and it's so nice because with some
Speaker:flexibility, especially pandemic time flexibility, things are
Speaker:generally cyclical. As you're going to notice, these ebbs and flows
Speaker:or these changes that come through literally
Speaker:Labor Day every year. Everything that I run. Yes. I run
Speaker:that. But it can freak everyone out because Yeah.
Speaker:Is the, money tree ever gonna shake, you know, additional clients? And,
Speaker:yes, like, it's for sure. Everyone's just chilling. So, like, how about we just
Speaker:chill instead of, like, managing your own anxiety and your
Speaker:own, like, thoughts around things, I think, is such a powerful tool to be
Speaker:utilizing. Because so often we, again, kind of fall
Speaker:victim to the client cycle or the client whim, when in reality, like, what are
Speaker:the stories we're telling ourselves? Like, that the client
Speaker:is not intentionally not reaching out to us. They've got life going on.
Speaker:Like, they're doing things. They have kids going back to school. They're taking that last
Speaker:big summer vacation. Then everything kind of
Speaker:starts rolling. Fall, like, right Yeah. At the time we get to the middle of
Speaker:September, it's like, oh, and then it just starts to slowly build.
Speaker:And you're like, oh, that's right. Yeah. This is fine. So, like, instead of freaking
Speaker:out the 1st part of September and end of August, we could be
Speaker:easing into the busy booking season.
Speaker:Yeah. And using that little quiet period to be strategic and say,
Speaker:okay. Fall is coming up. I need to start planning
Speaker:my for the holidays. I need to start looking at how many sessions
Speaker:can I book this year, or what can I be posting to entice people to
Speaker:start booking early? You know? And and taking that opportunity
Speaker:and that breath of fresh air that you don't have to be answering emails all
Speaker:the time and using it to your advantage. Right. Well, I'm like, is
Speaker:my pricing good? Is my client onboarding system stellar? Like,
Speaker:where where are there any holes? Have I run through all of it for this
Speaker:year? Because I know that we've been guilty of that sometimes or if something doesn't
Speaker:get tested or gets tweaked and really, oh, it was small. I won't impact anything.
Speaker:Broken link on the website. Yeah. Happens all the time.
Speaker:What and it's just silly and you're like, okay. Well, yeah. I love using
Speaker:downtime for that, because it lets you do
Speaker:something that feels feels and is proactive.
Speaker:Right? You're doing something, you know, like, okay. I've accomplished this. I
Speaker:wanna make the whole thing better, easier, more streamlined, And then,
Speaker:you are set up in such a better spot instead of doing this
Speaker:little swirl spiral in your brain and worrying about it. And then hitting
Speaker:busy season and booking season and being like,
Speaker:really wish I would have taken some time to implement the things that didn't go
Speaker:right last year or that weren't Right. They weren't clunky. Because I think that's the
Speaker:biggest thing is, well, we won't always document the things that are
Speaker:clunky or that could be improved. And we've been doing that a lot over the
Speaker:last 2 years. And then in July, in November, over that Labor
Speaker:Day, you know, little 10 day chunk, we're actively making
Speaker:changes to prevent those things from coming up this next
Speaker:year. And every year is smoother and more streamlined and less
Speaker:stressful and a better experience for our clients. Yes. And most
Speaker:people also, when they're so overbooked and burned out,
Speaker:they wait until January essentially to do any updates in their business,
Speaker:including pricing, including back end stuff. It's like
Speaker:January is the month that I'm gonna do all the things, and then how quickly
Speaker:do they get burned out from doing that stuff? But what I've learned
Speaker:through coaching, and you've interviewed my coach as well, you know, you can
Speaker:be doing that stuff throughout the year. It doesn't take an entire month
Speaker:to do that. You can do something small one time a week and make progress.
Speaker:And I also like to recommend to people, raise your prices before the fall
Speaker:because you know that people are gonna be reaching out, like, 3 times the amount
Speaker:of people that normally reach out to you. You know you're gonna book it, so
Speaker:raise your prices now before the fall so you don't have to take on as
Speaker:many clients. And you know that if you book, if you're taking time out of
Speaker:your beautiful fall weather to go be with clients, that it's gonna be worth it
Speaker:for you financially. Absolutely. No. I I couldn't agree more. I
Speaker:think that everyone feels that that January fresh start is the only
Speaker:time. Right? It's not the only time.
Speaker:I actually hate For me, January is, like, the one month
Speaker:that I don't wanna be doing all of the things. I don't wanna be reinventing
Speaker:the wheel. I want to be just rolling where I am because it's busy for
Speaker:us. Our busy season is so aligned. Like, you know, we have booking season,
Speaker:and then we have tax season, and then we have Mhmm. Extension season, and
Speaker:then we have season, and they all just kind of roll
Speaker:throughout the year. And for us, I I update
Speaker:everything over the summer leading into the fall for the exact
Speaker:same reason. Like, what are we looking at? Where are we strategically planning?
Speaker:What is our like, what's our client max? What's our ideal client
Speaker:range? Like, where do we have? I don't think this happens quite as often, but
Speaker:I think it can happen if you're looking to take on maybe you want to
Speaker:have maybe you're expecting a child this next
Speaker:year. Like, how does your life change with that? How do you impact, like,
Speaker:taking Right. Parental leave when you're a photographer. We've had quite a
Speaker:few photographers over the last few years that have had children and that have
Speaker:had to reverse engineer, like, what that looks like, and how do you have
Speaker:coverage, and do you have people in place, and how do you notified
Speaker:clients? Like, how are you choosing to navigate this? And there are lots of other
Speaker:life changes that pop up. Maybe you wanna take 2 months off to go travel
Speaker:the world. All of these things you can use to forecast, and then okay. Cool.
Speaker:How am I presenting my prices, my offers, our services? Like, where
Speaker:are we booking? And I think I know that our strongest area
Speaker:for bringing on clients has been asking for the referral,
Speaker:utilizing our network Mhmm. And reaching out to them. Like, do bookings feel
Speaker:slow? Have we reached out to people that have worked with us that love us
Speaker:that refer us all of their friends? Yeah. Really easy to pop in and
Speaker:like, hey. We're here. We'd love to do x, y, z. We've loved working with
Speaker:you. We're open for referrals. It's amazing how easy that is to, like,
Speaker:generate cash flow sometimes when it feels like you're trying to get the ball
Speaker:rolling. Yeah. Absolutely. And like we were mentioning
Speaker:earlier with working with past clients and nurturing those relationships,
Speaker:so many photographers are very timid, and they're like, well, we've already invested this much
Speaker:money in me. I feel bad asking them for more. But you're not asking them.
Speaker:You're offering a service that I'm sure they would love to have you,
Speaker:the photographer, that they loved so much versus having to reach out to somebody
Speaker:totally new with a totally different process. And so making
Speaker:that little extra effort to just touch base with past clients and say, hey.
Speaker:How are you doing? If there's any other ways that I can serve you and
Speaker:work with you in the future, I would love to continue that relationship. If you
Speaker:would like prints from your session, if you would like an anniversary photo shoot,
Speaker:there's so many just easy touch points that you can have with clients that don't
Speaker:have to be you know, they can say yes or no. They can just ignore
Speaker:the email, and that's fine. Or they might reach out to you and remember it
Speaker:later and say, yeah. She said that she does offer this type of photography, so
Speaker:I'm gonna reach out again. Absolutely. Yeah. I I think it's,
Speaker:again, easy to make it all about ourselves. Right? Oh, we've already paid this. Oh,
Speaker:I've already they have not given you money out of
Speaker:charity. Mhmm. You are providing a valuable
Speaker:service and experience. Yes. You're not
Speaker:begging for money. Right. Like, I I see
Speaker:it happen a lot. Oh, well, I can't expose it. Or, oh, they've already or,
Speaker:oh, I don't know. What what stories are we making up about our clients Mhmm.
Speaker:That are pigeonholing them? Or, oh, they're not gonna want the 8 hour package. They're
Speaker:only gonna want the 6 hour package. Yes. Like, can we let the client decide?
Speaker:Can we maybe put it all out there for them and let them as an
Speaker:adult choose what's best for, like, their needs instead of making our own limiting beliefs,
Speaker:our own stories, hold true for our clients?
Speaker:And I think that that happens so much more often than
Speaker:we're even realizing. Mhmm. And, especially, for women,
Speaker:we're very uncomfortable generally with talking about money, stating
Speaker:our pricing without the upspeak or without, like, if
Speaker:that's okay with you, making those kind of statements, offering discounts
Speaker:before clients even ask for them, or just because a client asked for a discount,
Speaker:we feel like we have to oblige, and that's just not the case. And a
Speaker:lot of times too, we do assume, well, this client said their
Speaker:budget was this, so they can't afford to spend any more with me. And a
Speaker:lot of times, that's not the case. So, yeah, like you said, we're making up
Speaker:stories about our clients or what they could afford just because we might not be
Speaker:able to afford that, And MoneyMindset has a lot to do with
Speaker:our bookings. Absolutely. I think one of
Speaker:the biggest things that I've seen pop up is and we we see this a
Speaker:lot. Right? Maybe you've sent out a proposal. You have options a, b, and
Speaker:c. And the client's like, hey, I really love c, your highest priced
Speaker:offer, but I have the budget for b. Mhmm.
Speaker:We're not going to waffle, and we're not going to change our
Speaker:prices to accommodate that. But if you're open to it and
Speaker:something that we've done in the past too, is, like, where could you change your
Speaker:deliverables? Mhmm. You're not doing more work for
Speaker:less. You're doing an a commensurate amount of work for the price
Speaker:that they're able to pay. Or, hey. Like, let's have a chat about that. Like,
Speaker:what what are you wanting from this package? It's so important. Like, where can we
Speaker:be meeting this rather than just compromising yourself and
Speaker:your values. And then I think it's really
Speaker:easy. I know it's happened to me in the past to feel resentment. Right? Because
Speaker:you've done this, and then you're sitting over here in the background, like, grumbling instead
Speaker:of just having stood your ground and maybe they end up walking as a client.
Speaker:But then they're not the right client for you. You don't need to compromise your
Speaker:values, your services, your offerings, and
Speaker:it's so tempting sometimes,
Speaker:especially when you're first coming into booking season for the year, and you're like, we're
Speaker:gonna do this, and you get someone that's like, well, my budget is this, but
Speaker:I want that. Yes. Care for options.
Speaker:Yes. Preach. I talked about this recently on on an Instagram,
Speaker:reel because there are so many people pleasing behaviors that we
Speaker:do, and I think women, especially, like, gender definitely has an impact on the
Speaker:way that we behave with our clients. We will interact with our
Speaker:clients in a way, like, they'll ask for a discount, and we'll say yes because
Speaker:we feel like we have to or because it's uncomfortable for us to say no.
Speaker:And then we get ourselves. We show up to the session, and we're like, I
Speaker:don't even wanna be here right now. It's a beautiful Saturday in October. I
Speaker:could be with my friends having wine at the local winery right now. I could
Speaker:be with my family and kids picking pumpkins in the pumpkin patch. And I didn't
Speaker:even need this because I'm working 25 other days in October. But
Speaker:I said yes to this client that's not even paying my full rate. Mhmm. And
Speaker:now I feel crappy about it because I shouldn't even
Speaker:have taken it on in the first place. So we feel resentment towards our client
Speaker:when instead we should be feeling grateful because we're picking clients that align with
Speaker:our values. We're picking clients that are that see the value in us and are
Speaker:willing to pay our rates. And, you know, not every client is able to do
Speaker:that. And there are times when we could be flexible and compromise if we feel
Speaker:like the situation allows for it. But when we continually
Speaker:do these people pleasing behaviors and then we're struggling to make
Speaker:ends meet in our business or we're more burned out because we're taking on more
Speaker:than we should have, that's on us. And so one thing that I like to
Speaker:say a lot is it's not our client's fault that we're burned out.
Speaker:It's not our client's fault we're overbooked. It's our fault. And,
Speaker:you know, there's a part of it that just is comes with the territory of
Speaker:when you first start a business and you start getting more and more popular
Speaker:and people are booking you, and then you kinda have to reach that enough point
Speaker:before you realize you need to scale back. And then you have to have somebody
Speaker:who can help you learn how how to do that in a way where you
Speaker:can still make the income that you need. But at a certain point,
Speaker:we have to stop going through the cycle burnout every
Speaker:fall and blaming our clients and posting these
Speaker:passive aggressive stories on Instagram. You guys, I'm working,
Speaker:like, 12 days straight with no day off. I'm editing till 2
Speaker:AM, and I'm doing things as fast as I can. I've been sick, and
Speaker:I'm still working. Like, I see these. I've already started to see them this
Speaker:fall. And And it makes me so upset because we're making our clients feel bad
Speaker:and pity us like we're the tortured artist when, really, we
Speaker:chose that for ourselves.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Right? There's so many things that we could have done to prevent the situation.
Speaker:And if it's happening to you every year in your business, the one common
Speaker:denominator
Speaker:is you. Exactly. I I know. Yeah. The the resentment is so
Speaker:real. And I had kind of a a come to Jesus in my own business,
Speaker:I don't know, 5 years ago where I was like, oh, my God. This is
Speaker:a me problem. Like, I'm allowing this to continue to happen.
Speaker:It's no one else's fault. Right? I set my prices.
Speaker:They accept them, or I accept what we're you know, we've agreed upon.
Speaker:I can't hold it against them because I'm resentful, and the same thing
Speaker:happened with, like, raising prices. Yeah. I may like, I had clients that
Speaker:were at, you know, x rates. I think we see it happen too with, like,
Speaker:old clients that come back and, like, your prices have changed, your scope that has
Speaker:changed, and you might feel some sort of way about where your prices are
Speaker:now. You know, maybe it was someone that paid you when you first prep started,
Speaker:and it was $1200. And you don't work for anything less than 5,000
Speaker:now. Yeah. Okay. You get to
Speaker:be strong in that, and you get to stand up for that. Because if you
Speaker:and this is where I see people, like, automatically discount. But, yes, of
Speaker:all the shit that comes about. Right? There is nothing worse than
Speaker:when I started raising prices, changing package offerings, I had a couple of
Speaker:clients that I left at, like, a grandfathered price rate. Mhmm. And that's when my
Speaker:come to Jesus was I was resentful. I was irritated. I was
Speaker:bitter. They had done nothing
Speaker:wrong Right. In the slightest. And guess what? We had
Speaker:conversations that weren't always the most fun,
Speaker:and 1 or 2 of them left. And we made some package changes, and
Speaker:we makes made some adjustments, and I loved working with them
Speaker:again. Mhmm. That was, like, my biggest
Speaker:moment of being like, okay. So anytime we look to change packages,
Speaker:pricing, etcetera, everyone within their
Speaker:contract window gets updated because it is so easy for that
Speaker:resentment to build and to fester when, like,
Speaker:you create this. Like, you set the situation. Right. You have the capacity to
Speaker:modify it. Like, can we please just be doing that? Yeah. And
Speaker:it hurts. It's humbling to you know, if somebody tells you,
Speaker:I I just don't have the budget for this, but also separating
Speaker:that from our worth, right, and saying, you know, it's
Speaker:not that they don't think that I'm a great photographer or a great business owner.
Speaker:They probably still follow you and reach out to work with you again because
Speaker:they think they they recognize the growth and they still enjoy
Speaker:connecting with you, but it might just not be in their budget. And
Speaker:that's understandable. Like, I'm a photographer, and there's photographers who are out of
Speaker:my budget. I love their work, and I I know that they're worth what they
Speaker:charge as far as their services, but it might just not
Speaker:be in my budget. And that's okay, and that could be something I save up
Speaker:for in the future. I'll say, hey. I'm ready to splurge. I've been saving
Speaker:for years to work with this person, and they might come back and do that,
Speaker:and they might not. And that's okay because people have different priorities in our
Speaker:lives, and we need to understand that that doesn't reflect on us
Speaker:and our value as a person. But it it does hurt. It's hard to have
Speaker:those difficult conversations when you do have recurring clients and you have to talk
Speaker:about price increases. But, again, when you're feeling that resentment
Speaker:in resentment inside because you know that something's off
Speaker:off and that you're not feeling like you're making what your services are
Speaker:worth, then it's worth having those difficult conversations instead of
Speaker:continuing a relationship that is going to sour because of those
Speaker:feelings you're having. Right. It's like the pain of feeling stagnant is
Speaker:greater than the pain of the potential change, conflict, confrontation,
Speaker:you know, anything. It'll just be a conversation. It doesn't have to be conflict or
Speaker:confrontation, but I think we make up everything that goes along with that.
Speaker:It's, I think, so powerful to have these conversations around
Speaker:money and around pricing, especially, because
Speaker:it's so easy, I think, to feel like you have impostor syndrome issues popping
Speaker:up or anything else popping up. But the other thing too, and I I I
Speaker:don't remember where I read this, but it was years ago, and I've seen
Speaker:it come true for myself. Everyone's pricing
Speaker:doesn't need to be reflective of what your services are. Like, your your pricing, their
Speaker:budget, like, all of that. There's a certain clientele for
Speaker:certain price points, styles, personalities,
Speaker:etcetera. Right? Within that, I wouldn't
Speaker:work with a photographer that charged too little in my opinion,
Speaker:but too little is subject to my interpretation.
Speaker:Yes. Just like I wouldn't work with someone that was necessarily way out
Speaker:of my budget. I may make an exception for it in the future. I may
Speaker:save. I might do whatever. Or the Caitlin of 2 years from now,
Speaker:that photography that's out of budget may be what's considered my norm
Speaker:or my baseline at that point. Mhmm. But it's so interesting to watch,
Speaker:like, my comfort level or my, like, baseline
Speaker:level and where it is year after year and how that changes.
Speaker:And I I've watched it on the client side too because just because I've
Speaker:watched mine change, so there's clients change at different methods, and
Speaker:they can be a similar income level, but their tolerance or their expectation is
Speaker:different. And so I think so many times we think that cheaper is better or
Speaker:cheaper is more accessible. And it's not always depending on the clients that
Speaker:you're working with because there's a perceived value that comes
Speaker:with certain pricing, but it's subject to so many
Speaker:different factors that the client's working with that, like, you may not be privy
Speaker:to and the flightest. Yeah. That's definitely true
Speaker:with photography as well because there are people who are posting on Facebook groups
Speaker:like, I'm looking for a photographer under
Speaker:$1,000 for a wedding day, and that's, for them, that's expensive.
Speaker:Right? There's people, and that's their budget, and that's understandable.
Speaker:But and they think that's, oh, I'm investing a lot of money in that photographer.
Speaker:Photographer. But then that person was an inexperienced newbie or a
Speaker:scammer who doesn't even show up on their wedding day, and that ended up costing
Speaker:them more than if they invested in a tried and true photographer who is
Speaker:dependable, has great reviews. And so some of those are experiences
Speaker:that you learn with time that paying more,
Speaker:not just for the product itself, but for the
Speaker:care that you're going to get from that professional. And, for example, you
Speaker:know, I limit how many bookings I take on so that I can take better
Speaker:care of my clients. Of each client individually, I'm responsive to
Speaker:them. I get their galleries turned around quickly, and I know I can
Speaker:charge more for that versus somebody who's charging 2.50 a session
Speaker:and or $1,000 for weddings, and they're taking on as many people as
Speaker:they can. Those people are getting galleries late. They're getting excuses and
Speaker:apologies on Instagram stories. They have a burned out
Speaker:photographer who does not have time to enjoy their own life. And, personally,
Speaker:I don't wanna work with people like that. I wouldn't hire somebody that I saw
Speaker:doing that year after year who is basically just a
Speaker:sad human who doesn't have time to take care of themselves. I wanna know that
Speaker:I'm supporting somebody who is living their best
Speaker:life. Absolutely. And I couldn't, yeah, I couldn't agree more. And I
Speaker:think there may be a time and a place. Right?
Speaker:If you're okay with having images
Speaker:delayed, having deliveries delayed, knowing that you are one of many
Speaker:instead of one of we're gonna say a handful. It's probably
Speaker:a little bit bigger than a handful, but one of a small group. Yes.
Speaker:I want the experience, and I'm willing to pay for the experience that comes with
Speaker:being able to support someone that is able to actually make a living, and is
Speaker:not the struggling, starving artist. I am over
Speaker:paying people to be a a starving artist. Like, I
Speaker:want you you do great work. Right? You like, you're in this because
Speaker:you're talented, you're passionate, hopefully, even if you're, you
Speaker:know, you're struggling with some burnout. You got into this because of that.
Speaker:I want you to be able to make a good living from it. I want
Speaker:you to be able to go take time, live your life, do all of the
Speaker:things that I value so much in my business. Like, it would feel so hypocritical
Speaker:to not support paying someone rates. But, again, this is where you
Speaker:setting your rates. Yes. You need to be setting your rates
Speaker:to support that and being able to articulate the like, these are our
Speaker:rates. These are the clients. This is the experience we provide. Like, how much more
Speaker:space did that give you to provide a stellar experience as well? Yes.
Speaker:Because here's the thing too is, like, if you're charging super cheap prices, you're
Speaker:taking on a high volume of clients. Maybe at the beginning, you
Speaker:can keep up with it or, like, you know, when you first start start out
Speaker:your 1st couple years, you're hustling and you're like, okay. This is just what I
Speaker:have to do. But after a year or 2, it gets old.
Speaker:And, you know, what once was really easy and you're like, okay. I can make
Speaker:a quick buck by taking on more and more clients at a cheap rate, and
Speaker:that's attractive to people. But then you soon you start to bring that
Speaker:resentment to your clients. It comes across in your email responses to
Speaker:them that are a week late. It comes across when you show up with the
Speaker:with the drained expression where you don't have as much creativity.
Speaker:So as much as we like to think that it doesn't affect us and we
Speaker:can just keeping the cheap photographer, keeping the affordable business owner,
Speaker:it's catching up to you in all sorts of ways. And if not in your
Speaker:professional life, also in your personal life too. And that is a big thing
Speaker:that so many people you know, a lot of people say, you know, I value
Speaker:my family if you ask them. What's the most important thing to you? Family. But
Speaker:how many times are they saying, well, I was gonna go to my kids' soccer
Speaker:game today, but somebody needed help with a wedding last minute, and so I'm gonna
Speaker:do it. And then you become the mom that's never at their kids' soccer games.
Speaker:Or your family is like, well, we would have invited you, but we knew that
Speaker:you probably had to work. You know, your family gets used to you working on
Speaker:vacation. And that's no kind of life to have. Like, that's not the life that
Speaker:I want for myself. And I think if a lot of us start to be
Speaker:honest with ourselves, then we will start to acknowledge that we are
Speaker:burned out, that we don't wanna live this way. We don't wanna be on this
Speaker:cycle of burnout, but we don't know how to get off of that
Speaker:roller coaster. Absolutely. What a fantastic,
Speaker:like, segue into this. Yeah. If you
Speaker:were to give any particular
Speaker:takeaway or action step that someone listening right now who's
Speaker:like, I don't know how to get off the roller coaster. I don't know how
Speaker:to take that first step. What would you what advice would you
Speaker:give them to take to be able to take that first step today?
Speaker:I would say don't sacrifice the self care that will get you
Speaker:through this season. I know that it the hard part of right
Speaker:now, if you're looking at the rest of your calendar year, you're already overbooked.
Speaker:It can be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You're
Speaker:like, I just have to get through this. And at this point, I'm recognizing that
Speaker:I have a problem, and so this is gonna hurt going through this
Speaker:season. But if you're in busy season right now
Speaker:already, you know you're overbooked, then close out your calendar.
Speaker:If you already if October is already looking busy for you, close out your calendar.
Speaker:Get comfortable with saying no even if you have to just write a prewritten response
Speaker:to your already booked. It's gonna hurt, but know that it's gonna be better for
Speaker:your mental health if you say no. And saying no to overbooking means saying
Speaker:yes to rest, to self care, to balance,
Speaker:and prioritizing your life outside of your business, which is very important.
Speaker:And I would also recommend try to outsource something either
Speaker:personally or professionally. If you're already super overbooked and
Speaker:overwhelmed, you can outsource something. You can outsource your calling and
Speaker:editing if you're a photographer. You can outsource in your personal life, which might be
Speaker:more cost effective in some cases. Hire somebody to, like, do meal
Speaker:prep for you and your family or hire a babysitter so you can get extra
Speaker:work done that you need to. There's so many things that you can hire
Speaker:out that are not gonna cost you an exorbitant amount of money each
Speaker:month if you can't afford that right now. So even just hiring
Speaker:somebody to do a couple of basic you know, clean your house once a week
Speaker:during busy seasons, that's one less thing on your mental load, is
Speaker:gonna be helpful for you. If you have a partner, if you have kids who
Speaker:are old enough that they can help out around the house, ask for support
Speaker:so that you can take one more thing off of your plate.
Speaker:Absolutely. I know that during our busy season, I have
Speaker:meal services that deliver food, and then my husband does the cooking, and
Speaker:it takes the guesswork out of it, and it's just taken care of. We're
Speaker:fed. We don't have to think about it. We order for, like, 2 months
Speaker:plus, and it is wonderful for
Speaker:just hitting that baseline of making sure you're, like, you're nourished. Right? Because
Speaker:it's so easy to just oh, I'm gonna have breakfast. Oh, I'm gonna grab
Speaker:whatever I can grab. Oh, I'm gonna get Chipotle for the 7th time this week
Speaker:on the way home. I mean, no judgment. Chipotle, but
Speaker:yeah. We get so old here.
Speaker:Yeah. We see so many of our clients,
Speaker:and there there are transactions going on. And there's a lot of there's a lot
Speaker:of Chipotle. We all I think like, the wedding industry
Speaker:loves Chipotle, and it always gives me a little chuckle when I'm
Speaker:like, Okay. Yep. Yep. I could I could tell what
Speaker:someone does just by looking through their receipts sometimes on,
Speaker:like, the food side of things. So I
Speaker:love that. Now, Joanna, you had
Speaker:a special offer that we're gonna make sure we're linking in
Speaker:here. Mhmm. And we also have your social,
Speaker:but if anyone wants to find you, Instagram is the best place.
Speaker:Yes. And you're on there as?
Speaker:At balance not burnout photographers. Wonderful.
Speaker:And anyone
Speaker:I am I'm so glad that we had this conversation. It was so nice to
Speaker:hear someone else saying, like, know your numbers. Yeah. And
Speaker:so it's so rare. I just feel like I am some broken record over here,
Speaker:like, sitting in the background. Like, I know it's not sexy, but it made such
Speaker:a big difference. It can be sexy. Like, let's just
Speaker:let's just pay attention and, like, help prevent
Speaker:the rampant burnout or repair, recover
Speaker:the rampant burnout that we're seeing across so many industries, but especially in the
Speaker:wedding industry, and teaching. I mean, we
Speaker:have 2 teachers on our 2 forward teachers on our team now who just
Speaker:burnt out and couldn't do it. My sister's a teacher. It's exhausting.
Speaker:Like, we're seeing it in so many industries. So thank you so much
Speaker:for being here. It's really meant the world to be able to have this discussion.
Speaker:Yes. Thank you so much. And I love that you're, you know, educating other
Speaker:business owners, not only on finances, but talking about these important conversations
Speaker:about our mental health, about burnout, and that there is hope for people.
Speaker:And that's the last thing I wanna leave off with is you can prevent burnout
Speaker:in the future in your business. Even if you're in it right now, there's ways
Speaker:to get through it, and there are people who can support you. And I love
Speaker:that on social media now, we're seeing so many great posts about supporting
Speaker:mental health. And my true passion is
Speaker:helping people to live a life you enjoy outside of your business.
Speaker:Even if it doesn't seem like it's possible for you right now, it is possible
Speaker:with a little bit of planning and strategy. So thank you again for having me
Speaker:and being able to share about this. Absolutely. Thank you.
Speaker:That's a wrap for this episode of the Wealth Witches podcast. I hope our
Speaker:magical money talks have left you feeling empowered and inspired.
Speaker:Remember, wealth isn't just about dollars in the bank. It's about abundance and
Speaker:financial freedom in all aspects of your life. I'm Caitlin Magnuson
Speaker:encouraging you to keep challenging the status quo and embrace your inner witch on
Speaker:this financial journey. Until next time, stay magical.
Speaker:Hey there, magical listener. Are you ready to take your financial journey to the next
Speaker:level? This is Caitlin Magnuson inviting you to join us at the wealth which is
Speaker:monthly program where we dive even deeper into the cauldron of wealth.
Speaker:From live training sessions about money, taxes, retirement, and business support
Speaker:to an inclusive community that's here to support your growth, we've got everything
Speaker:you need to embrace your inner wealth witch. Visit our website at
Speaker:wealthwitchesdot com to join us. Your wealthier self
Speaker:is waiting.
