I know firsthand what it’s like to work with clients and customers who value what I have to offer (and those who don’t). I think it’s easy to believe that when you start a business, you’ll magically attract the right people (the ones who value your time and work) when in reality, most of the time, we spend a lot of time working with customers and clients who teach us what we don’t want. (we’ll call those hard lessons to learn). But the truth is, it’s those lessons that teach us to listen to our gut when it comes to the types of people we attract, and over time, we become great at attracting the right audience and saying no to the rest. 

But let me go back in time for a minute. To a time where I didn’t feel valued. Where I felt like I poured my heart into everything I did just to have it go unnoticed. I often sat there and wondered if pursuing a career in something that I am attached to emotionally, something I cared so much about, was the right decision. I think part of me is more vulnerable by choosing this as my job. Because to me, it’s more than a job. It’s something I created from nothing in hopes that the person I’m creating it for, is someone who values it. Pouring your heart into something you love for a long time just to feel like it’s not valued will run you into the ground eventually. 

The truth is that a lot of us spend a long time getting hung up on what we are not to justify the fact that we don’t value ourselves enough. We focus on all the things we aren’t excellent at instead of the pieces that make us great. The idea of truly valuing our time, work, vision, and dreams is always tied to something in the future. We become accustomed to it always being just out of reach because we’re not willing to seize it and hold on to it.

That leads us to the million-dollar question is; how do you get others to value what you do? 

It starts with you.

The first step in getting others to value you is to value yourself.

There are countless hours of work I put into this business. Countless nights that I would stay up all night to get my work done because it was the only time I could because it was when my little ones were sleeping. Countless hours on the road. Nights away from my family. Countless hours of trying over and over to get it right and countless of hours of failing and trying it again. Long days of work while holding my son while he’s sleeping. I have taken every day and pushed towards my goal, and I am the only one who knows how much I have had to sacrifice.

Do you know who values what I do most?

I do.

If you’re ready to start moving in the right direction and become amazing at getting things accomplished then let me explain this concept to you. It might sound simple but take the time to actually think about it. Let it sink in. I believe this concept needs to be understood by every business person out there. 

I often get asked how I managed to grow my business and Wordsmith Membership so quickly and I can say that it had to do with a lot of things. One of them is reading a lot. I’ve never been able to get lost in storybooks, but hand me a book on business and I can’t put it down. I soak it up like a sponge and then piece it together to make it fit my life, my business, and the way I run my business. Something about business fascinates me, and I love reading how things work, how ideas succeed, how they fail. I love reading stories about others that built a business empire out of a simple dream.

The 80/20 Principle

I remember reading about something called the 80/20 principle. It’s actually a really simple concept, but to me, it was absolutely mind-blowing. For the past few years, I have applied this 80/20 principle to running my own business and it has helped me in so many ways. It helps me make decisions quickly and always reminds me of the big picture.

Most people believe that when you put hard work in, you get the same return. If you put 50% of hard work, you’ll get 50% in results. The problem with that concept is that it usually doesn’t actually work out like that. People that have this mindset all too often spend time on the wrong things and move forward a lot slower than those who understand the concept of the 80/20 principle.

The 80-20 rule will teach you to focus on what’s really important in your life and your business. You can apply it to almost every aspect of your life and business and below I’ll list a few ways photographers can think about the concept.

The 80-20 rule states that 20% of inputs create 80% of the outputs and that 20% of the effort leads to 80% of the results.

Let’s talk about time management! Do you ever feel like your day is passing you by, and you haven’t really gotten anything that you had hoped to get done for the day accomplished? You’re sitting there working on…stuff…but nothing specific? Well, you’re not alone! In this article, I’ll go over some of my favorite things to do in order to stop wasting time.

Many of us deal with time management issues, especially those who work from home and have their own business.

Instead of working at a job that is 9-5, we have one that is 24/7. And it’s those 24 hours every day we have to look at, organize, and strategically set up to maximize our outcome for getting tasks accomplished for work and life.

IT ALL COMES BACK TO TIME-MANAGEMENT

Below I wrote out my favorite time management tips, and I’m hoping they help you plan and organize your workday, all while getting closer to your personal goals and helping you stop wasting time.

The biggest lesson I’ve had to learn as an entrepreneur is time management. And let me tell you – it was a hard one to learn. I look at it this way. You can run your business without time management skills and work against yourself for the rest of your career, OR you can learn how to be a time management genius.

Let’s be honest, running a successful business is one big net of getting things done to get you closer to your goal. The only way to do this is to know how to manage every little thing that relates to you running your business.

MAKING A PLAN

You need to have a structure, a plan, a schedule, deadlines, and you need to actually get it done. You need to be strict with work hours and not let your business run your life. I think this goes especially for those of you like me that work out of your home. Your office is right there, in your home, and it is easy for your job to start ‘ruling’ your life.

Sometimes it can feel like work is around you 24/7. You’re always checking your phone for notifications. You’re trying to squeeze in work in between making dinner and bath time. You go to bed only to be woken up by your phone binging and feeling like you need to get up to answer that one email which we know will lead to answering just another ten more. You’re stressed because you feel like you can’t be there for your kids 100% and be running your business 100% no matter what; you never have enough time in the day.

I hear you! That was my life before I learned how to manage my time. My new normal? I know what I need to do when I’m in my office. My phone does not run my sleep cycle and for the first time, I feel like I can be a happy, unstressed mom with my kids again. I hope that these little tips will help you too.