This big blank dry erase wall calendar, my trusty Trello boards, my financials, my Yes / No List and my goals I’ve set for the year. If you haven’t created those last two lists I would highly suggest doing that first before planning your year. I talk about them a lot in this post and this one too. Oh and LOTS of post it notes. Here and here are my favorite sizes for this calendar. They fit perfectly. And these dry erase markers. Ultra fine tip is the best for this purpose.
If you are wondering, all of this is synced to my Google calendar as well. I couldn’t live without it on my phone. But I am such a visual person that seeing the whole year has been so helpful.
DOWNLOAD YOUR INTENTIONAL YEAR WORKBOOK HERE
Ok, here’s how I plan my year. We’re going to take it one step at a time.
1. One week every month for myself
You read that right. First up on the calendar I block off an entire week each month for writing content, social media planning and working on my business. Those are my no client weeks - no sessions, no ordering, no mentoring. It’s my hair up in a messy bun and pajama pants on if I want kind of week. That’s my week of planning and preparing everything for the next month. You might not need that kind of time or maybe you just want to block it off and use it for catching up on editing or client orders. I highly recommend it though, even if it’s just a few days.
2. Block personal time
Next up, I block off any personal time I need. Yes, this sounds really uppity, but it’s not. It’s a necessity, and it’s based on my priorities. You block your time off based on yours! I personally don’t want to work on my kids’ birthdays if at all possible. I like to be fully present for them that morning instead of trying to get ready for a session. There may be surgeries scheduled (common in our house with one of our kiddos). Or maybe it’s a vacation already planned. Woohoo! Those are all dates that I know are not options for clients so they are blocked off.
3. Conferences
We all love them, right?! I try to make at least one a year and if I can only get one in, it’s going to be SYNC. It’s my absolute favorite conference for senior photographers.
4. Sessions
From my financial goals for next year and knowing my average senior sale I know that I want to book at least 30 senior sessions next year. I also know that I only want to shoot on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. So those are my only options for senior sessions. Mondays and Fridays are for mentoring for senior photographers (yep, shameless plug - haha). I know that I’m probably going to be shooting more in the summer and fall, but I do not overload the calendar with available dates. Availability is based on what I can personally handle without going crazy, not based on lack of planning by others. Sorry not sorry. That being said, I educate clients year round on when they should be booking sessions and have a tiered session fee schedule to help control the calendar. Less desirable dates have lower session fees and the busy season dates have higher session fees.
5. Consults and Session Premieres
Ok, I’m a little stingy with my mornings. I’ll admit it. This is when I feel the most productive and creative so if I’m not shooting I am able to create in other ways - social media, Facebook Lives, blog post writing, etc. These sorts of appointments are only scheduled after lunch and only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays. If I shoot on any of those days, it is not considered a consult / premiere day. I have a hard time switching gears / roles. So if I am shooting, I am not selling. Hopefully that makes sense. I like to handle the same sort of appointments back to back on the same days. My goal is to have 2 to 3 session premieres or consults on one day.
6. Big Days For My Audience
This part takes some research, but it’s worth it. Because my target audience is 16 -17 year old girls (and of course, their moms) in my area, I want to know what is going on in their lives! On my calendar are all of their prom dates, church camps, homecoming, community events, big school events, exam weeks, graduations, school breaks and no school days, etc. I want to know what is happening so that I can talk to them about what they care about! Obviously some of this information isn’t out there yet, but I do the best I can with the details I can find and fill in as dates are released.
7. Big Days For My Studio
This is going to be things like monthly admin and review days. I always want to know what is working and what isn’t working in the studio, plus keep on top of administrative tasks that can easily fall through the cracks. So I set aside one day towards the end of each month for a monthly review and admin morning. Ok, now that I know what is going on in my target audience’s lives, I can start planning around them and the needs in our studio. On the calendar I start adding things like a senior open house, graduation announcement sale launch, and finally start planning our biggest launch each year - our senior model team.
8. Model Team Launch
Alright, this is a big topic and not one that I can go into great detail here. This will be a high level view, but you will get an idea about how I plan this launch out on the calendar. Here are some important dates that need to be set:
Model Team Launch Date
Model Team Application Deadline
Model Team Registration Deadline
Model Team Shoot Dates
Model Team Meetings
Model Team Events, Parties, Gatherings, etc.
Now that the dates are on the calendar I can start backing into the marketing plan for our senior model team.
Side note - I am working on an actual senior model team launch plan to release, but it’s not quite ready yet. Be sure you are on this list below if you want to be among the first to know :)