Running a small business is no easy task. It's messy and thrilling and terrifying all at the same time. But no matter what, it's definitely a journey worth taking. As a mom of two littles, I know the daily struggles, and I'm here to walk this journey with you. If you're ready to feel empowered, encouraged and on fire for the things you truly love, then you're in the right place. I'm Rebecca Rice, a pizza loving hot chocolate drinking family photographer and educator. And this is the business Journey podcast.
Hello, friends, welcome back to another episode of the business Journey podcast. I'm your host, Rebecca rice. And I'm really really excited for today's episode talking through what a week in my life looks like what my schedule looks like, just on the day to day, this is an episode that kind of is going to be you know, peeling back the curtain a little bit and giving you an inside look at what it is that I do on a day to day the things that my team does on the day to day. And I'm really excited to be able to do that. Now before we get too far, I wanted to let you guys know about a special like freebie that I have just for you guys, that's all about mini sessions. And this is what I call my three day mini sessions blueprint that basically, if you have either never made $3,000 or more on a set of minis, maybe you've tried these before, or maybe you're brand new to mini sessions, I'm a huge believer in mini sessions being very profitable when they're done right. And in this blueprint, I outline exactly what that looks like how to structure your minis how to maximize your time and your profits to make that first $3,000 or more on a single set of mini sessions. And when I say single set, I mean, like literally two to three hour time block, you're not having a shoe, you know, for eight hours in a day and things like that. And this blueprint has really been transformational for so many photographers. And so I'm really excited for you to get your hands on it. The link is in the show notes, or you can type it in, it's Rebecca rice wcco.com/ 3k Dash minis, that blueprint is completely free. So go grab it. And I know it will be helpful for you. So let's get into all the things of like what my schedule looks like. On a normal week, I was recently speaking at a conference in Ohio at the graceful gathering one of my favorites. And I was having this conversation with a photographer there about, you know, my schedule, and how I structured and all of that. And it was just such a great conversation that I wanted to kind of just share here, let it spill over so that other people can be able to hear, because my schedule and the way that I structure, how I work. And when I work. And all of that has really been an evolution over the last several years, you know, when I was a solopreneur, didn't have a team, my kids were little babies like things looked very different. As I added team members and my kids are starting to get older and things like that we've really kind of shifted things around for how I work. And so I you know, I'm a huge believer of designing your business to serve you and not the other way around. And so I knew that when I went full time in my business, I really needed to figure out what I wanted this to look like because for several years, the first several years of my business, I was part time in photography in my business, because I worked full time at a church. And so my work hours looked very different at that time, I was working, you know, in the evenings or on weekends only on days that are in times that I wasn't at the church, which you know, obviously with church, we have services on the weekend. So our you know, quote unquote, weekends were weekdays. But either way, my schedule looked very different because I couldn't set my own schedule unnecessarily I was kind of at the qualms of my full time job and working around that. And also having, you know, little babies, my kids are 20 minutes apart. So I had to under two at that time and, you know, working around their schedules and things like that, or my days off. And so it was very different. And then whenever I went full time, my husband and I, my family moved to Nashville, almost two and a half years ago. And when you know, we moved all of a sudden my kids were not in full time daycare. My husband and I were not working a full time job like in an office. So for the first time we really had the freedom to kind of figure out what our schedules how we wanted to design our schedules to look and our days to look. So I'm going to kind of walk you through what has like worked As for me, I know everybody's different. But for me, I'm not the kind of person that does really well, like multitasking or like, you know, being a mom being attended to my kids and also have my laptop out. I know, some of my friends are really, really great at that. And I'm like, awesome, all power to you, I am not good at that. I have a really hard time focusing, and I love working. And so for me, I discovered, you know, it really in that first year of us all being home and, you know, working for ourselves, I discovered that first year that I really value focused work hours where the kids are not around, I'm able to really sit down and, you know, focus on what it is that I need to get done. And so knowing that I was able to look at, okay, what kind of childcare can we get, because I didn't necessarily need full time childcare, I didn't need my kids in, you know, full time daycare or anything like that. I knew if I could get you know, three days, or you know, two full days or three half days, covered with childcare, then I'd be able to get the things done that I needed to. And so we ended up hiring a nanny, you know, very part time she came for, you know, a few hours a day, a few days a week. And that was an amazing solution when my kids were not like school aged yet. And I was able to get really focused work time done. So that's kind of like the backstory of how we got to where we are now. So let's fast forward, you know, a couple of years, my kids are older, my daughter is six, my son is four. And so my six year old is we do a hybrid homeschool. So she is at a school like a co op kind of thing, three days a week, and then two days a week we homeschool. Now my son, he we chose to enroll him in a two days a week like preschool, so that he would have a place to go also while my daughter was at school, and then I'm able to use that time to work on my business. And so for us, that's Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. So on those three days, Mattie's at school, Carson, Tuesday, Thursdays at preschool Wednesday, he gets a Mimi day with my mother in law who lives close to us, which is amazing. And so I have three days where my kids are gone, and I'm able to really, really focus in on my business. And so I have found that that is like the perfect amount of time for what I need, just mentally for myself to feel like I have the space to create and to, you know, work on the things that I love doing in a space that is focused, and I can be you know, all in and then when my kids are home on the other four days of the week, I'm able to, you know, be all in with them. So let's kind of walk through what a typical week looks like for me. Now, as a reminder, in case you didn't know, or you're kind of new around here, I do have a team of employees. Now at this point, I've got a few employees that work on the photography side of my business, because I have an associate team, I've got 20 photographers in eight different cities that serve families, you know, all the time. And so I have three employees that work on that side of things, helping that run. And then I also have three employees on the education side of my business, like helping all of that run. So a lot of what I'm going to walk through like would not be possible if I didn't have that team in place. And like I said, this is very much been an evolution because I started off by myself working part time doing, you know, having a full time job and doing this thing as a side gig. And so it has definitely evolved. And for a little while I was like, do I even like, share what my schedule looks like? Because, you know, I know a lot of people don't have a big team. But I was encouraged to go ahead and share it. Just because people are really curious, you know what this looks like. And I found that as I was having conversations about this, people were really encouraged of like, oh my gosh, like I could get there one day. And so that's,
you know what I want to kind of peel back the curtain and share, like, that's the purpose of, you know, showing because I have made choices to grow a team. And because of that, sure I like make less profit than I could if I was doing this by myself. But I get to work a lot less hours, and really design the business to serve my life and the lifestyle that I want. I want to be able to have, you know, those four days all in with my kids, I don't want to work, you know, five days a week, 40 hours a week. And so by doing that, I did have to grow my team to be able to do that. But let's get into what my schedule normally looks like. So I mentioned that I work Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursdays. My team does work five days a week and so on the days that I'm out they are still Getting Things Done, which is amazing. So when I hop in on Tuesdays, I usually start about eight, and my husband takes the kids to school that day, it's my meetings day. And so I have meetings in the first part of my workday. So every Tuesday, we have a weekly team call with my leadership team. So I have one team call with my associate team staff. And when I say that it's not my associate photographers, it's my like employees that are on the leadership team that helped run that side of things. So we have a call with them. And then right after that, we do a call with my education team staff members that are on that side of the leadership team. And we do have like some admins that come underneath those people. And so that's why we say that it's the leadership team, because not everybody's involved. Once a month, we do have a full team call where all the team members, my admins, everybody like that jumps on as well. But on the weekly we have it just be our leadership team so that I can have, you know, a check in with everybody and make sure everything is going smoothly. So those two calls usually lasts until about 930 or 10, depending on how much we have to cover. So we start at 830, my day starts at eight. So really the first like 30 minutes, my day is just like getting set, you know, coming into my office, it's it's my my Monday, so I'm, you know, glancing at my inbox and checking through slack and catching up on things. And so you know, we started means 830 Go usually till about 930 or 10. And then I spend the next couple of hours working on usually things that we cover in those calls. And so if there's any, like photo sessions that I did for behind the lens, or any mini sessions that I shot, then I use that time to get my photos uploaded and call through them, get them backed up and send it off to my editor. If you know over the weekend, my team needed some things from me or whatnot, that we went over in our call, then I am able to like really dive in and work on those things. And typically, that takes up, you know, the rest of my time until noon, just getting the things done that we talked about in team call and stuff. Because a lot of times, my team will mention things that they need for me and they can't move forward with their part until my parts done. So I want to be really like efficient with my time and get stuff to them. So they're not waiting on me, especially since my time is really limited of how much I am. I'm like in the office. And so yeah, that's what I'm typically doing for the rest of my you know, my Tuesday time until noon. And then I choose to only work half days. So I start my workday on Tuesday at noon, I eat my lunch, and I take a nap. That's like a priority. I take a nap every day. Just fun fact about me. And so I take my nap. And at that point, it's usually time to go get the kids from school. And so it's nice because after the school day, which ends at about 330 Then we're able to just spend the rest of the time like with the kids and doing family stuff, which is so fun. Tuesdays Maddie has dance class and so we go do dance and you know, whatnot. And it's just a nice like, wait and our evening together, Wednesdays and Thursdays typically are my days where I try not to have any calls just because I want so if there's any other like random calls, I'm you know, if I'm on a podcast for somebody or I need to do a one on one call, I try to do those on Tuesday as well. So that Wednesday and Thursday are open and I can like really focus and dive in on stuff I need to get done. So typically Wednesdays and Thursdays are days where I'm you know, creating stuff like this, I'm recording podcasts or I'm recording YouTube videos, maybe I'm showing up on social media or strategizing for an upcoming launch or creating new courses or whatever that may look like I might be connecting with people to to set up photo sessions for behind the lens or whatever may be coming up. That really takes up the majority of my time on Wednesdays and Thursdays and of course I'm there you know if my team needs something from me in that time as well. We're you know, I'm in my inbox doing stuff but I again on Wednesdays and Thursdays try to work half days as well. And so those days I am in charge of taking the kids to school. So my husband can have the morning to work on stuff and so I usually get home like 930 So sometimes I go until noon. Sometimes I go until you know one or 130 Either way, I try not to go past that so that I'm able to stop, have lunch, take a nap and then go get the kids so But like my afternoons look very similar on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But one thing that I do whenever I'm deciding, because my time is very, very limited, if you really look at it, I work maybe 10 to 12 hours a week. And that's if I'm in the office, you know, all three days, I'm not traveling and whatnot. And so in that time, I have to be very intentional with how I use my time doing the things that is like the best use of my time. And so there's this filter that I use, when I'm deciding what I'm going to do and how I'm going to spend my time. And it's, you know, if it requires my face, like YouTube, Instagram Stories, stuff like that, if it requires my voice, which would be podcasts, or, you know, interviews, if I'm, you know, showing up in other people's communities, things like that, or it has a direct tie to revenue. So things like strategy, and launching and creating new products to serve our students better things like that, you know, booking out photo sessions, whatever, any kind of marketing, then that's how I use my time. And so anything that falls outside of that filter, I pass on to somebody else, and that's why I have the team under me, so that I'm able to have somebody to pass it off to, but that's the only way that I'm able to get all the things that I needed done in the very short amount of time that I am, you know, in the office. And so, you know, looking through that those lenses, that is how I decide what it is that I do and what gets passed off. And so I feel like it'd be like a whole nother episode talking through what I pass off how that you know, looks like because I have catch Moya is my integrator on my team. And she's a huge role in that, in helping to delegate stuff to the rest of my team. And help me stay in my zone of genius doing the things that I you know, gifted to do. And that really pushed the ball forward on the photography side. And on the education side of things. I don't have enough time to like really get into all of that today. But Kat is like a huge role for me there. So that's what a typical work week looks like for me. And like I mentioned before, I'm able to have those like work hours that really work well for my family, because of the team that I have in place. And that leaves me free, where I try really, really hard on the other days of the week to not step into work mode. Now I still have, you know, slack on my phone and Voxer and stuff. So if my team needs to get a hold of me during the rest of their workweek, of course, I'm available, but I try to, you know, step away and really be present with my family in other times, because that's, you know, that's where I am my best, like the best version of myself. And I really want to try to stay in that lane and, you know, balance out, you know, work life and family life so that I could do both really well. And this took several years to really find a rhythm that worked for our family to find a rhythm that worked for me to feel like I was getting all the work I needed done. But it has really become something beautiful. And I'm so so thankful for, you know, the way that we're able to structure our schedule, to be able to have those extra days with my kids. And so we're able to spend the rest of our week homeschooling and going to the playground and baking and just however, we want to spend that time as a family. And so it's been really, really beautiful.
So if you have any questions about, like, how I structure my day, how I structure my team, like any of that, I would be happy to answer you can always find me on Instagram at Rebecca rice photography. I hope this episode was helpful for you or at least, you know, interesting. Like I said, I know most people don't have a big team. And so like it's it's hard maybe even to imagine, like being in the place where you can delegate things to other people. But if you are the kind of person that wants to, you know, work towards a lifestyle like this and having worked hours like this, then I would say the piece of encouragement I would offer is to start with just one team member. Like what's one thing that you can outsource? Maybe it's your editing. Maybe it's your inbox, like, I'm sure you can find one thing. And the argument I hear all the time is Yeah, well, I can't afford to hire team members. Well, my very first team member, when I first started outsourcing was a contractor. I hired her for, let's see 10 hours a month. It was $30 an hour as a virtual assistant. And so I was paying her $300 a month. And I like kind of panicked at first like oh my gosh, can I afford $300 A month extra like, is she gonna make me any money? And what I found is because I had I have extra hours in my month, I was able to book more photo sessions to make more money in that time because I got to use my time towards marketing and things like that, and I wasn't sucked up in my inbox or, you know, doing things like that. And so start with just maybe one and explore, like, what could you pass off and maybe look into hiring a virtual assistant or something, because once you do one, you may get addicted and want to, you know, hire more because just the return on the investment is so incredible. And you get your time back. And to me that is the biggest return is the fact that I have freedom in my life to choose how I want to, you know, live it. And so like I said, I hope this episode was helpful for you. And I'm always available for questions, if you want to chat through stuff. Maybe this was just a, you know, interesting look behind the curtain. And, you know, it's nothing more than that. And that's okay, too. But I just, you know, was encouraged to share what this looks like. And I hope that you know, some of you find it helpful or interesting or something to maybe strive for in the future. Because I'm really passionate about everybody, all of you, you know, using your business to find a life of freedom because at the end of the day, that's the most important thing is being able to live that life of freedom and have your business work for you and not the other way around. So that's, you know, what I what I hope for all of you. So with that, we'll go ahead and close out this episode, and I will see you back in a couple weeks for another episode here. Bye guys.
