EP 161: What Waiting Costs

level. But you can kind of get stuck on like, which one do you tackle first, and when's the best time to take it on? Back in episode 15, I talked about how I handle the question of what to do next in your business. And if you missed that one back when it dropped. It's an oldie. But I think it's still a really good episode. And it has a fun little freebie that goes along with it. So I will link that in the show notes. And you can go back, you don't have to listen to that

before this. But if you're if you're struggling with what to tackle next episode 15 will help you. But sometimes, even though you have a sense of what you need to do next, you can get paralyzed by the question of when to do it what the right timing is. And depending on the expense of the project in terms of time or effort or money, you may just find yourself procrastinating for months or even years before you tackle it. Like you know, you need to hire somebody to help you get your

bookkeeping organized. But that process kind of feels overwhelming, and there never really seems to be a good time to dive in. Or maybe your website needs updating, but you hate updating your website. So you're kind of kicking that down the road. In today's short and sweet episode, I want to share my thoughts on when and how to tackle projects in a way that keeps your business moving forward. And why it's important to create a plan. Welcome to this can't be that hard. My name

is Annemie Tonken. And I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard, you can do it. And I can show you how I had been living in the house that I now live in for 13 years when the pandemic hit in 2020.

Now it's been 15 years but at the time, I was 13 years in and the whole 13 years that I had lived there, I had dreamed of turning this closet that was in my kitchen into a peninsula that had like a workstation on top. Because I desperately needed more workspace in my kitchen, I have a very small kitchen and it was going to help turn this kind of bulky disorganized closet into more efficient storage.

Now, this was a project that I had not only been thinking about, but that I had actually sort of slowly but surely been working on for a while I had building plans from an architect friend of mine who had come over and like sketched out the idea. I had a Pinterest board that was dedicated to you know, tile choices and countertops and all that sort of thing. And God knows how many hours I logged complaining about the fact that I had such terrible counterspace in my kitchen. But for 13 years,

that was all I had. The project was always too expensive, or I was too busy or I was you know, complaining that there was no point in doing that project until I was ready to renovate the whole kitchen. No matter what the excuse was, I always had one. But then the pandemic hit and I found myself kind of like everyone else. finally getting around to those house projects that I had been thinking about forever, and particularly getting around to

this kitchen project. Honestly, this particular project was kind of a an ambitious DIY job. There was electrical involved, there was some plumbing involved. But thankfully, Riley's parents, my fiance's parents who both have lots of very useful skills and tools when it comes to renovation work came to visit and they came armed and ready to help. And with about two weeks of dedicated effort and about

$5,000 in material costs. We had effectively doubled the size of my kitchen and added enormous value not only to the house but really to my life. I at this point can hardly remember how I ever functioned in my kitchen the way it was set up before that renovation has made every minute that I spend in my kitchen so much better and easier. Honestly, the only regret that I have is that we waited so long to make it

happen. It pains me in retrospect to think about how much more I would have enjoyed cooking and socializing And like doing all the things that I do in my kitchen, if I had just, you know, rip the band aid off and done that project 13 years or five years, or even just a

year earlier than I did. But as much of a difference as that relatively small renovation has made in my life, it's really a drop in the bucket compared to some of the changes that I can look back on that I have made over the years in my business. There were those three years that I spent editing all of my sessions in Photoshop, because that was what I knew. And at the time, I figured Lightroom would take me too long to learn.

During that time, I probably wasted hundreds of hours that, you know, the magic of batch editing in Lightroom would have saved me. Or I think about the five years that I spent working as like, everything was organized in a notebook and like a spreadsheet, before I discovered the power of CRMs and automations. For sure, I would have booked many, many more clients using a CRM consistently

in the early years. And I would have saved myself a ton of unnecessary stress, and in a few very memorable instances, crossed lines of communication with my clients. And then finally, you guys can probably guess what I'm gonna say next, there were seven years of in person sales that I kind of

plotted along with. And when I think back and I look at my, now, you know, five, six years of hard data, if I had started with simple sales, just two or three years earlier in my business, it would have made a very solid six figure difference in my savings account, right now, I would have much more money in the bank. There's that old adage, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, and the next best time is now. And I love that saying for a lot

of reasons. But I also feel like it can, it can be a little disempowering, right, it can be easy to focus on the first part of the phrase, and that makes me feel like you know, I've missed my chance I'm so far behind, I'll never be able to get ahead. So, you know, it kind of puts me in that mode of inaction. But the second part of the phrase, the the next best time is now is really the important part. And that's the part that we have

control over. None of us can go back and change our past choices, or our behaviors or our lack of behavior, right, our inaction. But every single day offers us a new opportunity to steer our own ship in whatever direction we please, it's all about being intentional. As entrepreneurs, most of us have things on our to do list that go way beyond what we can accomplish right now, or even in the next, you know, few weeks or a couple of months or even a

year. The mistake that most people make is taking one step in 20 directions rather than 20 steps in a single direction. So let's go back to the story of my kitchen renovation. As I'm sure you can imagine, in a house that I have now lived in for over 15 years. There are lots of little house projects that I have on my

wish list. So imagine if instead of diving in on the kitchen renovation, I had just taken the doors off of that closet that was there before and then moved on and taking the clothes out of my closet that needs new shelves and had a truckload of compost delivered for my yard, and then taken the hinges off of the squeaky porch door and put the put the doors against the wall.

I would not only have made essentially no impact on the functionality of my kitchen or any of the other parts of my house, I would actually have a much messier house than I did before I did any of those things. And the thing is, those first steps that we take in a project are usually the easiest, right? Taking the doors off takes five minutes, but demoing the drywall and planning the full renovation and buying the tile and installing the countertop. Those things

required. Perseverance, commitment, money on the table, all those things. Having a truckload of compost delivered is as easy as making a phone call. But then once it's there, pulling out the shovel in the wheelbarrow and getting it distributed around the yard. It's probably going to be a full day of like sweat and blisters.

These same principles are true in your business, the first steps of any project you know whether it's like listening to a podcast and Getting an idea or writing down your goals in your planner or saving a post on Instagram that shares some really good marketing tips, those things cost you very little when it comes to time and effort. So they're very easy to commit to. The problem is, they also cost you a lot. Because none of those steps in and of themselves does anything at all

for your business. Those are examples of what I call passive action. And this is something that I have talked about before on the podcast. But passive action is an activity that makes you feel like you're doing something makes you feel like you're getting something accomplished, but ultimately, doesn't actually yield any results without taking further action. So it can be, you know, endlessly consuming information without putting putting anything

into action. So, today, your assignment, and again, this is short podcast. So you should probably have a little extra time on your hands, I want you to turn off this podcast, sit down with a pen and a paper or notebook, and write out the top two or three things that need to change in your business to improve your income, your workflow, your booking rates, or even just your job satisfaction. Now, I am sure that you could come up with 20 things that might, you know, be good for you

to do. But I really want you to think really clearly about your priorities, the order of operations, and determine what the next two or three tops, items on that list need to be what needs to happen next. After that, I want you to commit to seeing those two or three things through all the way to completion before you allow yourself to get distracted by anything else. Now, we all have to answer emails, we all want to check in on Instagram every day

I get that. But that time is kind of your passive action, right? Or your like checklist of maintenance items. I want you to dedicate the bulk of your time, your energy, your focus, your budget, your effort, all those things. I want the bulk of those to be dedicated to making these most important changes happen. Now, there may not be any one right time to update your website or change your pricing structure, or launch a

membership in your business. But I can say with a lot of certainty that the wrong time is. And I'm using air quotes here soon. Because every day that goes by where you are not taking action, not just a plan, but to truly complete. Whatever your goal is. It is costing you big time. Well, that's it for this week's episode of This can't be that hard. I'll be back Same time, same place next week.

In the meantime, you can find more information about this episode, along with all the relevant links, notes and downloads at this can't be that hard.com/learn If you liked the podcast, be sure to hit the subscribe button. Even better, share the love by leaving a review on iTunes. And as always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.