Did you notice it’s already six months since 2022 started? How do you feel about the past half year when looking at your goals? Have you reached them, is there an area where you are still struggling, or do you have any doubts? Are you stuck somewhere, or are you having a creative block? 

If you do have managed to achieve your goals, where you planned to be with your blog, business, I want to congratulate you! And if you haven’t? That is not the end of the world because this year still has 5 months. That is plenty of time for you to develop and achieve your 2022 goals! Did you know that having the right food photography resources is the key to progress, reach your goals and achieve success? 

Hearing the words like goal setting, quarterly goals etc, can make you think of setting your business goals, what the right amount is to ask a client and raises many more questions. How to plan your content for your blog, or how to start a webshop, what products will be trendy to buy. If this is what you are thinking about, this goal setting session will be different from those who already own a business!

Goal setting will be different for those who start in food photography, and will be different for those, who have their clients already. So let’s take a look at this matter in today’s blogpost. 

Goal setting for beginner food photographers who don’t have a business yet

When starting with food photography it is very important to write down your goals like: which style do I want to create, what do I need and where can. I find the best resources? It is so important to right down everything, and the clearer you make everything, the faster you will get there.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself:

• What kind of photography style do I want to learn? What style moves my heart?
• What kind of colors attract me? Do I like bright rainbow colors or am I more a neutral tone kind of person?
• Am I more attracted to bright&airy pictures, or do I lean more towards dark&moody?

Based on your inspiration, your dreams and your will, setting goals will define what you need to learn, where to start and which skills you need to develop!

Goal setting for advanced food photographers without a business yet

When will you achieve the next stage in my food photography journey? By developing your photography skills, learning from people and other creatives, finding the right resources, joining a club and looking for lots of inspiration! But what will be the next phase? Earning money from food photography.

What is your plan, do you have a clear goal setting? Is it leaving your 9 to 5 job and becoming a full time food photographer? Or do you want to continue photographing as a hobby? Are you planning on building a creative business, or do you want to explore another photography style?

If your goal is to turn your hobby into a creative business, it is important to define a date: when to get your first clients and to know how much money you want to earn in x months.

Let me give you an example: it’s august 2022 and you are confident about your achieved photography skills, you are clear on what kind of projects you want to do and you know which kind of clients would fit your style. Let’s create a clear timeline: your first goal would be to work with your first paid client in November 2022 and start earning € 2000 per month starting March 2023. That means you can leave your full-time job by March/April 2023.

The thing is to make everything very clear for yourself, the numbers, dates and what kind of projects you want to do. This way you will be able to organise your work and time in a great way to work on your goals.

Just make sure you give yourself enough time and space to do things, so it will not interfere with your current situation. Do you only have 4 hours per week to dedicate to food photography? That means it would take you a bit longer to achieve your goals. But on the other side, do you have 3 full days to turn your ideas into a future business? You might accomplish your goals earlier than expected!

Be honest with yourself, look at your situation and don’t create an unreal plan that would stress you out.

And this is why I want to support my members by offering them my help. I created the club, where they can grow and get the support needed. My mission is to help you create your planning, set your goals and show you how to achieve them! You can also get my support live and guidance in the club when you join us in the club!

Goal setting for creative business owners

When opening a business, setting your goal is crucial for achieve success. But first things first, start to build your budget because that is one thing lot’s of people forget to do, like in my case I never did that before.

I never put much attention in how much I spent before officially starting my business. And you know what is key and very important in a business? Keeping track of income-expenses = profit. Why? Because it is important for knowing how much taxes you will need to pay, and it will determine how much money you want to earn in your business = how much money you need to charge to clients.

What now? Write your budget, know which expenses you will make, how many % of taxes you need to pay and how much money you need to have for your personal life. Based on those calculations, you can set your financial goals, and what you will need to sustain your business and personal life.

So now we have a financial goal, with what kind of products or services can do, to start earning your money? At first, 100% of your income will come from client projects, photography, recipe development or even by becoming a product influencer.

As you will be growing in your food photography journey, my advice to you is to start thinking or new products and services that will diversify your income. Doing this will create more security in your business and your head. Why? Because you will not depends on only one source of income.

For example, this is exactly what happened in the corona virus pandemic: those who were explicitly do Restaurant photography lost all their clients, as restaurants had to close their doors for quite a long time. This caused a lot of financial problems to those who were purely focussing on this photography sector.

What is also very important is to incorporate regular goal setting sessions in your agenda. Why? To review your goals on a regular base, to review and then adjust them to your current situation. Or maybe to adjust them when encountering unexpected changes!

There are many ways to set your goals, some create a 6 months goals planning and some set it for one year. When planning for a small amount of time, just make sure to plan in more regular goal setting session to monthly or even on a weekly base!

Every month in the club, I plan goals setting session for the members through zoom. My goal is to help them define their goals for the next month and help them get clarity on where to focus in their businesses. I also guide them to achieve the goals they have set for themselves and then we discuss any kind of questions they have!

Not to forget the forum where the members can write their goals down, and can get help from the community we have build there!

Are you willing to learn and improve your skills, plan you food photography journey to the dot? Then it is time for you to join our club and become a member of an amazing community. The support and members will guide your path to achieve your dreams and success!

Hi there! I'm Lucia

Award Winning Food Photographer, Teacher, Business Coach, and, Founder of FOODlight. 

I am passionate about food photography, online business, sharing my knowledge & building a community of amazing like-minded creatives, such as yourself, that inspire and support each other. 

Feel free to reach out to me via my email lucia@foodlight.io or via Instagram, I'll be happy to connect with you!

Read about my Members' Club

And, check my free resources