[00:00:00] Speaker A: In this episode, you'll meet Lynn Pernill, who loves talking about goal setting and planning as much as I do. Being aware of what you want can make all the difference in your life and your business.
You're listening to sustainable photography, a podcast all about business tips, inspiration, and confidence building. I'm Ingvild Kolnes, the host of this podcast, and after over a decade as a photographer, I now help talented photographers run sustainable businesses. And for full transparency, you should know that I'm a mentor with paid offers, and I will probably mention some of those in this episode.
Today we have Lynn Pernill with us, and I'm so excited. We're going to be talking about one of my favorite topics, goal setting. But before we get started, can you just tell us who you are and your background? That would be great.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. So my name is Lynn Pernill. I've been a wedding photographer and videographer since 2011. So that's coming up on 13 years now. I actually knew way back in high school that I wanted to be a photographer. So when it came time to go to college, I knew that I wanted to major in photography, shot my first wedding at 19 years old, and then officially incorporated my business at 21 years old. So it's been an amazing journey. I can't believe we've reached 13 years now.
I specialize mostly in luxury weddings, proposals, and events, and I'm based in the Hudson Valley region of New York, so I shoot mostly in the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut area, but I also happily take a few destination weddings per year.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: That sounds pretty nice.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: I do think we need to mention that you're also Danish originally, so that we know some people from Europe on this podcast as well. So I think that's really nice.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: Yes, I know. That's so unique for me, I feel like I don't run into that many Scandinavians over here in New York. We're a small part of population of the world. But, yeah, I know. When I saw your name, I was like, oh, my God, that's such a scandinavian name. Whenever people see my middle name, Pernil or penile, it's always like, oh, what's that? Where's that from? But it's nice. I feel like we're kindred spirits. We get each other.
[00:02:23] Speaker A: Yeah. As soon as I saw your name, I was like, wait a minute.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: That has to be a scandinavian person for sure. Yeah, definitely.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: So, as you know, this podcast is called sustainable photography. So I have to ask you what a sustainable business looks like to you. Yeah.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: So I think when it comes to a photography business, sustainable is the ability for your business to withstand the test of time and to be able to not just survive, but thrive through anything. And in order for it to be sustainable, it should really be compatible with your life and your specific needs and circumstances. And then also, I think in order for your business to sustain, it has to sustain you. So it should be profitable. You should love your day to day activities, you should find it fulfilling and love it, because if you don't, then you probably won't be willing to put in all the extra effort and the passion that it really takes for a business to be successful. So it really should go both ways.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: I couldn't agree more. I think that's really important. And also the part where you said it has to sustain you. I think so often we just get lost in our business and our business starts running our lives instead of our business being there as what it's supposed to be, a job, a livelihood, and then it just becomes our life. It's like a lifestyle.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: Yeah. We have to run our business, they have to not run us. But it should be a two way street. It should flow well. Both ways.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: Absolutely. I think this fits well into a conversation as well, because we're going to be talking about goals. And once you know what a sustainable business is, once you know what you need to thrive and to get by and have a profitable business, it becomes a lot easier to set those goals. So how do you define a good business goal?
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Yeah, so there's actually a lot, in my opinion, that goes into it. So I am definitely also a huge goal setting nerd. This is like my favorite topic. I always joke that it's my favorite holiday of the year is New Year's, not New Year's Eve, but New Year's Day. So the day after sitting down and evaluating on the previous year and really taking the time to be intentional about goal setting rather than just like picking some random resolution. That sounds good. Or like, yeah, that sounds like it would be a good goal, but actually taking the time to sit down, reflect, soul search and then formulate your goals, well, the one important leg is to make sure it actually is something that you want for your life. And then number two is how to formulate them in a way that sets you up for success. So the mnemonic that I like to use, it's two acronyms. So smart and dope. So smart. I'm sure it's been around for I don't even know how many years, but it's a great mnemonic. So s is for specific, you want it to be detailed and not too broad or general. M is for measurable. You want to attach a parameter so that you're able to measure your progress and whether or not you've reached the finish line. A is for attainable, so it should be something that you have control over achieving, realistic. It should be something that you're able to reasonably achieve. There shouldn't be any obstacles that will prevent you from getting there time based. So you should always try to attach a deadline or time frame to it and then. Dope. Those are some extra little acronyms that I came up with, a couple of little extra things that I think are really important.
D is for decisive. So you don't want to hedge your goal by saying this or that, either this or that. You want to really commit and stick to one of your whatever goal is more important to you and then own. It should be a goal that you feel motivated and pulled towards, not something that external forces are making you feel like you should want to do. And then positive, always try to phrase your goal in the positive tense. Something that you do want, so not something you want to stop or something you don't want to do. Because then your mind's going to be thinking about that alternative and then emotional. That's the last one. I like to always attach some type of adverb or just make it part of the goal, the emotion that you want to feel achieving it, because those two shouldn't be separated. If it's important to you to enjoy shooting twelve weddings a year. If you're shooting twelve weddings a year and you realize it's not enjoyable, it's stressful, it's whatever, then that's not really the goal you set out for yourself. So I think it's really important to make the emotion part of the goal.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: I love that. Of course I've heard of smart goals and I use those, but dope, that was new. Do you have any examples of goals like that?
[00:06:56] Speaker B: Yeah, so I think it really depends on the person. Again with the O, it should be the person's own goal. But let's say, gosh, I feel like whenever you come up with your goal, after you do all the soul searching and thinking about what it is that you want, just kind of like brain dump. Like write down whatever's coming to mind, and then once it's written out, go through and kind of audit the goal. So say, okay, is it specific? Okay, good. Is it measurable? Okay, maybe it's not. Maybe attach some type of quantifiable parameter to it, and then just go through the checklist and make sure, like, okay, I've hit all those boxes. That's good. And then sometimes you'll find a goal where there isn't a way to make it measurable or whatever. That's okay. Then that might just be more of, like, your vision, or it might be more of, like, an intention. But to be a goal, like, a really great goal that you can measure when you achieve it, should really ideally have all of those letters in the acronym.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Okay. And you said it should be something that you yourself are in control of. So it shouldn't be like, book 20 weddings. Then it should be more like, do the marketing efforts that you have decided that you need. Okay.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Yes.
That's a great example. Right? Like, even something as simple as, like, I'm actually eight months pregnant, and I can't make it my goal, the outcome of the pregnancy. So it's my goal, not goal. My dream is that I would love to have a natural childbirth, but I can't decide that that is out of my hands. So on my goals this year, I wrote prepare my mind, body, and soul for a natural childbirth because I have control over what I do to prepare for it. I don't have control over the outcome, but I have control over the books I read and what influences I like in my life and nutrition and exercises and stuff like that. So, yeah, it's okay to have a dream or, like, what you want might not be phrased in a smart and dope way, but there is usually always a way to make a goal out of that vision.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Okay. That makes so much sense.
By the way, do you set your goals on January 1, or do you set them before then? If it's for 2024, when do you set them?
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So I personally like the annual goal. I know some people dread it whenever January is getting close. They're like, oh, there's all this noise about goals all around them. Like I said, I love New Year's Day. I love that whole, like, I feel like the whole world is just kind of in this mindset of soul searching. So I just find that atmosphere really conducive to wanting to do it myself. Some people dread it, and they're just like, oh, I hate this time of year, all the ads and all the whatever. So if you don't like doing annual goals and you don't like doing it in January, that's completely fine. I just find it easier just in terms of annual by profit numbers, and all the stuff just in my industry, in my life, it works well. But maybe you're like a teacher, or maybe it's, I don't know, around your kids birthdays or your anniversary, or, I don't know, maybe there's a different kind of milestone in your life that makes more sense for you. But I just tend to like annual goals. It's easier to track progress and stuff like that, just personally.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. So if you take us to January 1, how do you start when you want to set your goals? Just take us through it.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So I do have a pretty in depth process. So I actually created, I forget how many years ago at this point. It's been several years ago. I created like a little handwritten goal setting workbook. And then as the years went by, I started scanning it in and then making an actual indesign file. So I have an actual workbook of all these little worksheets for each step of the process. So every year around December and January, I put it out online. The download version is completely free. You're welcome to download it and do it yourself. I have a lot of business friends and personal life friends who every year they download it and we all do it together and share our stuff. That's at lynnprenil.com goldsetting, if you want to download it yourself. But then usually what we do is my husband and I will take, sometimes it takes more than a day, sometimes it's like an hour here, an hour there. The reflecting part, I think, takes a little bit of time to actually sit down, go through your calendar, go through your photos and think, what actually happened this year?
By the end of the year, you forget, was that even that year? Wow. And then we write down, first we start with all of our wins. So any goals that we did achieve, any unexpected wins, or just positive things that happened that year, and then we write down the shortfalls. So anything we didn't achieve or kind of fell short, and then an important part of that is evaluating. So one, were there any silver linings? So did something positive come out of not achieving what you thought you wanted to achieve? And then if it really was something you wanted that didn't happen, was that because of internal forces? Was that because of you? Or was it something outside of your control, just evaluating all those things so that you can learn from it? So either you can try again, maybe you've learned from what did work and didn't work, so you can really try again this year. Or sometimes it's reevaluating maybe halfway through the year you realize it didn't align with what you actually wanted anyways. So just really taking the time to reflect.
And then the next part, we think about our vision for the year, how we want the year to end up, who we want to become, all our different values, and then we use that to write down our actual smart and dope goals.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: Nice. Okay, understood. So are you looking at your goals as like, I achieved this goal, then it's a success? Or are you counting all progress towards it as well? Because I find that some people are a little bit scared of setting goals because they're scared of not reaching the goal and then it's going to feel like a waste. But I'm curious about your thoughts on that. Totally.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Yeah. I feel like a lot of people, the type of people who really resent goal setting or are afraid to do it, or are those types of people who have an all or nothing mindset. I don't think that's the point of goal setting. It's not a report card. It's not to evaluate your worth as a person or a business owner or anything like that. I think the two main goals of goal setting are, one, just to find out what it actually is you want in your life, to live your life with intention. I think if we don't do that, we have a tendency as humans to just live on autopilot, letting other influences determine our path in life. So one, I think the most valuable part of it is just figuring out what we want in our lives. And then two, just progress. Like you said, sometimes the best part about a goal isn't even achieving the goal and checking off that box. Although I personally love that dopamine rush of checking something off a list, which is great. And you should feel so proud if you ever do reach a goal. But even if you don't, if even just working towards that goal made you a better person that year, that is a huge win. And to be honest, I think that's the whole point. That's the whole goal of goal setting. One of my favorite quotes is we are human beings, not human doings. So obviously we need to pick things to do with our life, but why? It's because we want to become who working towards those things will make us become.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. That's really great. And at least for me, my goals aren't there to either I made it or I didn't make it. Sometimes I set really high goals just to have something to stretch for, not because I'm going to feel like a failure if I didn't reach it. And I know if I set my goals too small, then that's not doing me any favors because then I'm not really reaching my potential.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Right. It's not about saying what do I think I can definitely do this year, it's what do I want from this year? If this year went perfectly, how would that look exactly?
[00:14:54] Speaker A: And I think part of this also plays into that whole balance between sustainability, having that lasting business that you really thrive in, as well as in most cases, wanting to grow and get better and improve. What do you think about that balance? How can we work to achieve that?
[00:15:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I think I've said a couple of times that was reevaluation is always really important. So not just soul searching in January, but as the year is going on, really thinking, because you don't know how your year is going to unfold, you don't know what's going to happen in your life.
You might have an idea, but things happen. Like paths change. Like I said, I'm pregnant this year. That changes things. So constantly sitting down and you might have an idea, for instance, motherhood. To me, this is my first baby, so I have no idea how balancing business and motherhood is going to go. So I have an idea and I have goals that I wrote down now in January, but come middle of the year, again, part of my process is in June or July, I'll sit back down and look at the progress and tweak things. I think it's really important and really valuable to once you have an idea of how your year is going, sit down and say, is this sustainable? Was this a realistic goal? Is this still what I even want? And tweaking. Like I said, this isn't a report card, this isn't for school. This isn't anything that anyone else is judging. It's purely for yourself. So if you find that something isn't sustainable or isn't working out the way that you hoped or thought it would work out, changing your goals or dropping a goal or adding a goal is completely fine.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a really important reminder. But once you have your goals, how many do you recommend setting for as an annual goal?
[00:16:42] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a really good question. So I always tend to come up with too many. I'm an Enneagram type three. I love doing, I love getting things done and whatever. So I think it's fine to brain dump all of those. So write those down, get them out of your head, write them down, like document them. But then I think it's most conducive to success if you just pick a couple of them to really put all of your efforts into. If you spread yourself too thin, there's a low chance of 20 goals coming true versus if you put all your efforts into your top two or three. I'd say keep it under five. So one to five is a great number of top goals to have. If you do that, you're more likely to be successful with one of those big goals rather than just getting a bunch of little things done right.
You'll have probably more of a bigger bang for your buck if you really put all your efforts into what's most important for you.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
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But is it enough to just set the goal? I mean, do you need to, what, what else do you do to make sure that you're actually working towards the goal for sure?
[00:18:13] Speaker B: So that's one of the, again, there's some statistic or some quote about this where it's like blank percent of goals fail by February or whatever. So I think the key determining factor of whether your goal actually gets completed by the end of the year is taking action on it. Which sounds obvious, but one of the key, little like it seems so simple, but it always tends to work, is the second you come up with your goal, like you write it down, you make it a concrete goal within 48 hours, take one tiny step towards it. It doesn't have to be like, do it, get it done. Get a huge chunk done on it. So if it's your goal to write an ebook or, I don't know, whatever, even just creating the word document or creating the indesign file or whatever, just your brain taking that one little step towards it trains your subconscious that like, oh, okay, she means it. She really does want to get this done. So even if it's small, think of, anyone can think of one small thing they can do towards a goal tomorrow, even if it's, I don't know, writing up a shopping list to get whatever they need to do, whatever, there's always something you can do within the first 48 hours and make sure you do that because that will get that momentum going. And it sounds so simple and everyone can do it. And just by doing it, you're already off to a great start.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: Yeah, that is simple. And it's something that, I don't know, everyone should be able to do one tiny little step. Yeah, that sounds like a good start. What do you tend to do other than that to make sure that you're working towards your goals.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: So let's say if it's an annual goal, if it's something you want to get done between January and December, something else I'd like to do to make sure I prioritize it in my calendar of everything else going on in life. I like to kind of work backwards and segment up my milestones and my tracking points. So let me try to think of a good example. Let's say I want to launch a new website or something like that. I'll take that goal and break it down into what are the milestones that need to be accomplished for it to launch. So maybe like, gather together my images, gather together the copy, all those little steps. I'll write it all down and then I'll put it in my calendar backwards. So by the twelveth month it should be proofread, ready to hit launch, but working backwards to maybe. Okay, so if that's the goal at six months, what do I need to have achieved at that point and then whittling it down from there. So I'll take an annual goal, do my quarterly checkpoints, break that into monthly milestones, and then that'll help me come up with weekly tasks. So this big, scary, overwhelming goal is not that overwhelming. If I just look at that, okay, that one week, I need to do this. Okay, so what am I going to sit down and do today? So that helps tremendously.
[00:21:06] Speaker A: That would help a lot to be able to stay on track and not get too discouraged by that big goal that's a year ahead. So, yeah, that sounds like a really good idea. I'm sure that when we're working towards goals, especially when they're big goals, you're going to come across something that's going to set you back, maybe come across some kind of hurdle. What's your best tips in order to get back on track or avoid losing focus?
[00:21:40] Speaker B: I mean, it's inevitable. It happens, right? I feel like there's never been a year where I did absolutely everything and nothing got in the way. I think being honest with yourself, being fair with yourself, evaluate. Was it me? Was it really something I need to work on internally? Was it like. I don't know, there was that pandemic a couple of years ago. All of our business goals got off track because of that, and it wasn't our fault. So, being honest with ourselves about, is there something I can learn from this and improve upon? Take the good, leave the bad. If it was something external that you couldn't control and most likely won't happen again, move on, give yourself some grace. Understand it wasn't your fault. Even when bad things happen, I feel like there's always a positive lesson to learn from it. So, yeah, things happen. That's not the point of goal setting. The goal setting isn't to be perfect and achieve everything. It's just to grow as a person and learn along the way.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: Yeah. It's to get you closer to where you want to be. It's not there to, I don't know, as some kind of impossible standard that you should hold yourself to.
Yeah. Okay. So most people who are listening, they're photographers. And if you are a photographer with your own business or a creative of any kind with your own business, what are some goals that you think are something that they should set, some important things that they should measure and try to work towards?
Yeah.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: So this could totally differ based on the person. There's so many different types of photographers out there, so many different lifestyles. Again, back to the O in dope, it should be your own goal. But some things that I see pretty commonly, it could be a financial goal. I feel like that's kind of the number one thing people think of when they think of goals. So mostly like a profit goal or income goal or something like that, which is completely fine. There should never be any shame in having a financial goal. Like we talked about several times, your business should be able to sustain your lifestyle. That's completely fine. There should be no guilt in that. And then also vice versa if that's not the most important thing in your business that year. Also, no shame in not having a profit goal that year. So it goes both ways. And then I see some people have like a recognition goal. So maybe what's important to them that year is maybe getting published or feeling recognized or getting awards or things like that. So submitting to contests. Some people have experience based goals. So maybe the number of weddings they want to shoot that year, the type of shoot. Maybe they want to offer a new type of offering. Maybe they have like a bucket list of a certain venue they want to work at or something they want in their portfolio. And then for some people, it might be about collaboration. So maybe they want to start working with a certain type of planner or join a networking group they've had their eye on. Or something like that. So there's lots of different areas you can focus your goals on.
[00:24:33] Speaker A: What if someone's listening to this and they're like, yeah, goals isn't. That's not for me. Do you think that they're missing out? Do you think that they can get as far as if they were to have goals? What are your thoughts on that?
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it always breaks my heart. So that happens every year. I always see that every January. People are like, goal setting. They hate on it. And it makes me so sad because I love it. So there's another quote I heard somewhere that was, if you don't have your goal, it should be your goal to figure out what your goal is. Because I think, like I've said before, it's a shame to just live your life on autopilot and just go with the flow. Let your life, let the outside world determine your path in life. If there's something you resent about goal setting, maybe it's like, I don't want to hear about my weight again, or I don't want to hear about money and profit.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: That's okay.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: No one's saying you have to make those kinds of goals. But I think there can never be anything negative or harmful about soul searching and figuring out the path you want in life. I think that's never a negative. I don't think anyone can. You can never come out of soul searching worse than when you started off. You'll always learn about yourself. You'll always have clarity about the direction you want in your life. So if you're in the position where you don't like goals and you don't want to do this and you hate this whole thing, I think a great goal for you would be to figure out what's one goal that I feel good about, that I do want to work towards that. When I say it out loud, it doesn't make me squirm and resentful. Just what do you want from your life? Even if it's not financial, even if it's like a mindset goal or a work life balance goal or anything, that's still a goal and that's still wonderful. And just pick one thing that you want to work towards the upcoming year or whatever your time frame is.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: Yeah. So really goal setting to you is a way of taking charge of your life, for sure.
[00:26:35] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a great way to put it.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: That's really interesting. And really, it's so true because it is the thing that can give you a true sense of direction. Because once you have goals and you can create a plan to reach those goals. It's going to give you some sense of direction and purpose, for sure.
[00:26:53] Speaker B: Yeah. You don't want to just wake up in several years and realize life just happened to you and you just took what came at you.
This is your life. You want to have some say in it. Exactly.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: No, I completely agree. So we both love setting goals. I do it all the time and I love the new year as well with the new goals and all of that. But the person listening might be kind of new to setting goals. I don't know. Might not have that much experience. So where would you recommend that they start? If they're like, okay, let's give this a try? Yeah.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: So I would say download the workbook. Like I said, it's on my website. I'm sure you'll link to it. There are a bunch of pages in it that are just designed to basically just get your wheels turning. So there's a page on your values. So, like, what areas of your life are most important this year? Maybe it's your physical health, maybe it's your family, maybe it's your business. Maybe it could be a bunch of different things. So just sitting down thinking about what areas of my life need the most nurturing this year, what can go on the back burner, what needs more of my attention this year? And then there's also some kind of like, fill in the blank prompts of your vision for the year. Like, I want my environment to be like this. I want more of this. I want less of this. I want to be this. I want to do this. So if you don't even know where to start, just take a look at the worksheets, start filling out and just let your mind kind of go. And then I'm sure you'll learn about yourself as you're doing it.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: That sounds really great. Just get started. Just do the thing.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: Yeah, just get the wheels turning and it'll come to you.
[00:28:29] Speaker A: Yeah. So if someone wants to build a more sustainable business, what do you suggest that they do? Where do they start?
[00:28:39] Speaker B: It's evaluation. So think about all the areas of your life. Think about what your priorities are, your values, what you need, whether that's concrete and quantitative. So what profit do I need to live my best life? Write that down. And then I've also said it takes reevaluation. So whatever you set out to do.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: See how that goes.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: And then don't be afraid to reevaluate and course correct along the way.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: Perfect. Definitely good advice. So if someone wants to keep learning from you, if they want to get your workbook, where do they go?
[00:29:14] Speaker B: Yeah. So I'd love to follow you on Instagram. That's probably where I'm most active. So I'm lynnpranill, that's Linpernille. And then my website is lynnprinil.com. And then specifically, those goal setting sheets
[email protected] goal settingting. And then there should be a link to download them.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: Perfect. Thank you so much. This was fun, as always, talking about goals. And I hope that you're going to get closer to yours this year.
[00:29:46] Speaker B: Thank you. You, too, gut noodle.
[00:29:51] Speaker A: Susan Doug. Bye.
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