Financials Goals: 3 Steps to Achieving Goals

The first few years of my photography career, I was sure that I wanted to be a traveling photographer. Whether that was weddings, family, boudoir photography, I didn’t care.  All I knew was that I wanted traveling photography to be the way I hit my financial goals.

When I booked my first destination wedding, I was ecstatic. I just knew this was the launch of my destination photography career.

What I wasn’t thinking about was that I wasn’t really a great wedding photographer.  I was fine. But I definitely wasn’t going to win any awards for it.

Anyway, the wedding was in Destin, FL in July.

First of all, it’s really hot in Florida in July, plus the ocean breeze made it so humid.

So there I am on the beach, photographing this wedding, and it really was a beautiful wedding. Gorgeous blue water, white sandy beaches, absolutely gorgeous sunset.

But I was over there lugging around my giant camera bag.

I was fighting sand in my camera lens and my camera bag. And everywhere else.

I was definitely not enjoying where I was in the moment.

The wedding ended, and I went back to the hotel. The next morning I woke up and I thought to myself “I’m going to go through these photos on the balcony.”

You know how you see all those Instagram business owners showing off their work from anywhere life?  Yeah I wanted to be that business owner.

I wanted to watch the waves.  Enjoy this place I’m in and the fact that my job paid for a vacation, so I brought my computer out to the balcony.

Immediately, the glare form the sun on the ocean hit the computer screen.  I couldn’t see anything.  I adjusted the computer… and the screen fogged up from the humidity.

This traveling for work wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Yeah I saw a different place, tried some new food, swam in the ocean, but it would have been way more fun had I been able to enjoy the place I was in, instead of working while I was in it.

My working vacation brought a lot of conditions that I was most definitely not use to.

This trip is the exact moment when I realized that I don’t want to be a destination photographer. I want to go on vacation and enjoy myself. I didn’t want to think about work. When I’m at the beach, I want to enjoy the freakin’ beach.

I decided right then and there to change up my goals, and create a business that didn’t need me every week for 40 hours each week.  I wanted built in vacation time, and a business that allowed me to leave at the drop of a hat.

And that’s the thing. Goals can change whenever and however you want them to.  If you realize you want something different out of your life, you can pivot.

But you need to set your goals first in order to pivot.

At the end of each year, most people set goals for the upcoming year.  The problem with their goal setting techniques is that they are one overall goal they want to reach.

If you’re standing at the start line of a goal that’s “lose 60 pounds” that seems huge right?

Most likely, you’ll start off strong, lose a few pounds, and then something happens.  Maybe it’s the after Valentine’s Day candy sale.  You end up gaining a couple of pounds back. You get back on track for a few weeks, and then Easter rolls around and you binge at the family dinner.

Things keep setting you back… And then you give up completely.

If you had broken those goals down a little more so that they seemed more attainable, like 5 pounds each month, then your longterm goal of losing 60 pounds may not have seemed like such a stretch.

Like I tell my students in 90 Day Dream Biz, it’s the same with your financial goals.  If you break them down, reaching your goals will be so much easier.

Below I am breaking down three ways to actually reach the financial goals you set.

1. Understand time-sensitive goals.

Time-sensitive goals are easier to achieve because as humans, we are trained to think in time.  From our age, to our working hours, even our weekend hours are based around time.  We are always looking forward to “when this happens.”

There are 4 types of time-sensitive goals that you should take into consideration when you setting your financial goals- and all goals, really.

Lifetime Goals

Lifetime goals are goals that you want to achieve through the course of your lifetime. Do you want to retire early? Or would you like to own a vacation home somewhere on a beach.   Maybe your goal is to have 1 million dollars in your retirement savings account at retirement age.

Lifetime goals are whatever you want to achieve in your lifetime, financial goals, health, business.  Anything!

A longterm goal is the stepping stone to a lifetime goals.

Longterm Goals

Longterm goals are goals that you plan to achieve in 5-10 years. These may be(and likely are since you made your way to my corner of the web) owning and running your own business, making a 6 figure salary, and only working 40 hours each month.

A short-term goal is a stepping stone to a longterm goal.

Short-term Goals

Short-term goals are goals that you plan to achieve within 6 months to 5 years. A short-term goal may be that in 1 year you plan to give up your 9-5 and take your side hustle full time.

Stepping Stone Goals are the stepping stones(ha) to Short-term goals.

Stepping Stone Goals

A stepping stone goal is a goal that’s you plan to achieve in the next 6 months. These are important because smaller goals are more attainable, which makes them easier to reach.

An example would be to save your nest egg savings so you can take your side hustle full-time ASAP.  

By the way, I have a super simple formula that I call the Full Time Formula.  This formula helps you put together a plan so you can make the move sooner rather than later.  DM on Instagram and I can send you the link for the formula! 

2. Break your goals down into categories.

Although we’re concentrating on achieving your financial goals, they also need to be realistic.

What I mean by realistic is although you want to achieve a certain amount of money, if you’re only working a set amount of time, will that goal be achievable?

So, what you want to do is break your goals into categories so that you can set reasonable goals.

Life Goals

It’s important to think about what you want to achieve in your lifetime, what goals you want to reach, who you want to help, but today I want you to think about your business.

When I say set your “Life Goals” I want you to think about a few specific things.

1. How many hours do you want to work each week and each month? Be honest with yourself.  You can make this number whatever you want.  I personally work 40 hours total each month in my photography business.  But I only work those 40 hours in 2 weeks of the month.  The other 2 weeks I work on my coaching business and I take time off to do what I want to do. You can create whatever life you want.
2. How many weeks of vacation do you want to take each year? Remember this is your dream life. This can be whatever you want.
3. Where do you want to work? Are you like me and never want to take a working vacation again? Or are you okay working a few hours each day while staring at the ocean waves?

Schedule Goals

One thing I’ve learned through the years as a business owner is that I am so much more productive when I can batch out my work. I get so much more done if I can sit down and concentrate on one thing instead of jumping from project to meeting to project all day.

Although not everyone is like this, it’s important to know who you are as a business owner and creative. If you work better batching out, then block days off on your calendar to work on admin. Treat those days as sacred days.  Don’t schedule anything on top of them!

Financial Goals

Once you know how many hours you plan to work each year, then you can plan out realistic goals.  In business, it’s important to concentrate on 3 specific financial goals.

1. Salary goal
2. Business budget goal
3. Profit margin goal

If you need help setting these goals, I’d love to chat with you(free of charge and no strings attached).  🙂 Email me at tracylynncoaching@gmail.com or DM me on Instagram.

By the way, I am giving you my Longterm Financial Goal Planner, which we use in 90 Day Dream Biz.  If you want access, all you need to do is fill in the form below!

3. Set Time-Sensitive Goals.

By now, you understand the difference between time-sensitive goals and specific type of business goals.  You also understand why it’s important to plan your goals based around time.

Now it’s time to actually set goals that you can achieve.

Using your goal categories, life, schedule, and financial, break them down into bite size chunks so that it’s easier to digest using time-sensitive goals.

For example, when I started my boudoir photography studio, I knew that I wanted to hit six figures ASAP. I also knew that wasn’t going to happen overnight, especially considering that I also had a full time job at the time, so I broke it down into my time sensitive goals.

• Stepping Stone Goal:

  • Life Goal
    • Hours to work: 40 hours/month(still at 9-5)
    • Weeks of vacation: 2
    • Where to work: Studio and home
  • Schedule Goal
    • Sessions on Sundays
    • Production and admin in the evenings after 9-5
  • Financial Goal
    • $33,000 Total Revenue
      • $9,000 Salary
      • $20,000 Business Budget
      • $4,000 Profit Margin

• Short-term Goal

  • Life Goal
    • Hours to work: 120 hours/month
    • Weeks of vacation: 12
    • Where to work: Studio and home
  • Schedule Goal
    • Work at the studio 2 days each week
    • Thursday- Saturday off
    • Shooting days Sunday/Monday
    • Production day Tuesday and Wednesday
    • Admin days every other Wednesday
  • Financial Goal
    • $100,000 Total Revenue
      • $30,000 Salary
      • $60,000 Business Budget
      • $10,000 Profit Margin

• Longterm Goal

  • Life Goal
    • Hours to work: 40 hours/month total
    • Weeks of vacation: 26
    • Where to work: Studio and home
  • Schedule Goal
    • Work 2 weeks of the month
    • Client sessions 2 days a month
    • Production and admin days in the following 2 weeks
  • Financial Goal
    • $500,000 Total Revenue
      • $150,000 Salary
      • $300,000 Business Budget
      • $50,000 Profit Margin

• Lifetime Goal

  • Life Goal
    • Own a home in the midwest and a couple of beach rentals
  • Schedule Goal
    • Retire at age 55
  • Financial Goal
    • $3 Million Net Worth

Realize your goals can change.

Be ready to pivot whenever necessary. Your goals and priorities can change as you grow as a person and business owner, and that’s okay.

But having a plan is going to keep you on track to grow you business the healthy and smart way.

Be sure to download the goal tracker today!

Take a few minutes to download my free goal tracker. And if you need any help working through your goals, DM me on Instagram. I seriously am here to help you!