How are you feeling about the quarterly plan you worked on during Episode 161?

If you haven’t had a chance to create your quarterly plan yet with your top 3 goals, and action steps, go back to Episode 161 and that blog post first.

That episode and blog post will help you create the plan you’ll need before you can begin executing that plan.

In this follow-up information, we will dive deep into strategies that you can use right away to start executing and follow through on your goals! No more excuses!

This Week’s Voxer Question: What obstacles do you foresee getting in the way of you executing your quarterly plan?

Remember, to check out the specific deep dive options I offer in Episode 161.

Create Your Ideal Week + Plan Your Schedule

I follow Dave Ramsey, who I consider to be a financial genius.

I follow a lot of his principles, and he says that a budget tells your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.

Having a schedule and routines does the same for your time.

It’s our job to budget our time wisely and be in control of our calendars instead of letting them control us.

You have limited time as a mom entrepeneur!! So it’s important that you use your time wisely. 

The best way to do that is to… 

Create Your Ideal Week: 

What is an Ideal Week exactly?

Essentially, you are going to take every single day, and every single time block of your day, and you’re going to budget it.

You’re going to tell it where you’re going to spend your time.

I help my students do this inside the Efficient Mom Photographer Program.

What this does is that it creates consistency. It creates automatic routines that your family starts to see and understand. And that repetition creates efficiency.

When our foundational needs are met, and the things that are most important to us have a place that they’re being done, everything else feels so much more free.

Planning Your Schedule 

• Decide What Time Off You’re Going to Take 
• Pull out your kids school calendar and put all days off/half days into your personal calendar 
• Add margin in your schedule 

Choose a Task Management System

It’s very important that you have a task management system and this is where that Google Doc I mentioned in Episode 161 is going to come into play.

The task management system is something like Asana or Trello, Click Up, or Notion. There are so many different ones out there and a lot of these have free plans that you can start with and this is just a really excellent way to keep track of your tasks.

Essentially what I do is I create a section or a board for each month of the quarter, and then I break each of those months into weeks.

It’s really important that you have a digital version of your tasks, because it’s going to help you let go of the things that you’re supposed to be remembering, and actually leave more brain space for processing things.

Focus on Systems not just Goals

Goal setting is sort of a universal term that resonates with a lot of people.

Goals give us a really great starting point.

But if you solely focus on the goals, it’s going to be really hard to attain and meet that goal.

Goals should not be your focus, instead focus on systems and habits.

Focusing on systems will help you formulate a long-term habit, and create a sustainable workflow for you to continue meeting those goals.

Implementing Systems, Checklists, and Workflows

You need to have a dedicated CEO time block where you focus on the future of your business.

Part of creating systems is working on the future of your business.

If you fail to take the time to organize and simplify your plan in an easy-to-follow and easy-to-execute system, you’re not going to do it.

Make a promise to yourself right now. You are going to do this every single week, regardless of your schedule.

Think through when you will dedicate two to three hours to work on your business.

Put it in your calendar on repeat and never miss a CEO date!

This is going to be the most important date that you have with yourself during the week.

Fight for this time block, it is absolutely crucial to the execution of your business goals.

In part three, you listed out all the goals that you wanted to accomplish.

Then you narrowed it down to four or five big goals. Now you need to be even more specific on the tasks and steps you will take towards those goals.

This is how you will create your systems and workflows to make this happen.

Once you have those steps, I highly recommend either using Trello, Asana, or another task management platform, or have it printed out.

Be very detailed with each and every one of your goals.

Shiny Object List

So I mentioned this next piece in part three and I like to call it the shiny object list.

This is going to be a really helpful tool when it comes to executing your business goals. Keep a shiny object list where you put down all of those incredible ideas of things you want to accomplish.

This list is going to live on a note on your phone, or whatever task management system you use.

If you’re anything like me, you tend to get a lot of really good ideas. They fly into your head, and all of a sudden your wheels are spinning! You’re going down a rabbit hole of something that was not on your goal list to begin with.

This shifts your focus and slows down momentum towards reaching your goals and could honestly derail you from those goals for good.

Once you have solidified those goals, make that shiny object list somewhere that you can access it readily.

When doing your monthly or quarterly reviews, see if any of these align with your next set of goals. If they do, implement them, put them into your system. If not, leave them on that list to check back on later.

Resources:

1. Deep Dive with me!
2. Need support managing your time well and creating systems to streamline your Photography Business? Join the Efficient Mom Photographer (12 Week Group Coaching Program
3. Join the Waitlist for my Free Masterclass, The Profit Shift: 3 Strategies to Optimize Your Limited Time and Maximize Your Revenue as a Mom
4. Message me on Voxer (My username is afreehan)
5. Have a question for me? Or a specific struggle you’re dealing with? I’ll address your question on the podcast. Submit your ‘Ask Ashley’ question here
6. Looking for tips and strategies for making motherhood and business easier? Join Our Free Community – The Organized Mom Photographer
7. Local to Gilbert/Mesa Arizona (For Mom Business Owners) Join our in person membership community