When you take stock of your photography business, are you happy with your results? Are you booking enough work at prices that will support you and your family? Are sales trends moving in the right direction? Are you selling professional photo book ? If the answer to these questions is no, it’s time to take a look at where you can make changes. What you can count on is that if you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.

It’s easy to fall into a rut, especially for small business owners who feel they must do it all themselves without help from anyone else. Once you’ve built your website, created your price list, and locked in your bridal show schedule, it becomes easy to do all the same things again next year regardless of the results. If expectations fall short, blaming the economy or the state of the industry won’t help you much. Instead, recognize that it’s time for change and look for ways to innovate or reach new potential customers.

Change is inevitable. But if we don’t change we will never make progress. Here are just a few proven ways to help you effect change in your business:

1. Start with a clear set of goals. Write them down and tell someone else about them. Putting goals on paper will help you hold yourself accountable to them.
2. Get social. Share your goals with your spouse, an associate or friend you trust. Seek out other like minded professionals even if not in your same business and build your network. Share your progress and in return ask them about their goals and progress. You’ll create a support system for each other that’s invaluable in the lonely world of small business.
3. Chunk it out. Goals can often loom large and seem impossible without a path to get there that includes smaller steps. Nothing succeeds like success, so be purposeful about celebrating your success as you accomplish each one of those smaller steps.
4. Tune out negativity and naysayers. Learn to adopt a positive attitude and distance yourself from those people who always look at the downside. They are toxic to your change. Stop imagining bad things that could happen and start picturing being successful. It works!