Setting your business objectives starts with good intentions, but they often get set quickly before freelancers and business owners have given themselves the time to look back at what the last year was really like.
For most photographers, March/April is the perfect time. Engagement season has eased, Valentine’s enquiries have slowed, and the rush of wedding season hasn’t fully kicked in yet. It’s one of the few times in the year when reviewing your photography business actually feels realistic.
An annual business review isn’t about picking holes or turning your passion into a corporate exercise. It’s about understanding where your time really went, what supported your income behind the scenes, and what might have contributed to things feeling heavier than they needed to.
As a Virtual Assistant for photographers & small businesses, I’ve helped clients with their reviews and seen firsthand the difference it makes. Patterns start to show, decisions feel clearer, and your business begins to support your life, not compete with it.
Not sure where to start? Follow my 7-step process below!
Why Many Photographers Skip Reviewing Their Business
Most photographers don’t skip a business review because it isn’t useful, they skip it because it never quite feels like the ‘right’ moment. As small business owners and freelancers, there’s always something else that needs attention first and I get it (and am guilty of putting my clients first, too).
For most of the year, work moves faster than you can catch up. Enquiries come in, shoots stack up, galleries need delivering, and admin often fills those quiet breathing gaps. When things finally slow down, the instinct is to rest rather than reflect (and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I talk about overcoming overwhelm every year).
There’s also a certain weight that comes with looking back. A review has a judgey way of side-eyeing you for the systems that never quite stuck, the marketing that didn’t happen, and the ideas that sounded great in theory but didn’t really work in practice.
So instead, most photographers roll straight into the next season with new goals, fresh plans, and the best intentions, not realising that the same small gaps are following them from one year to the next.
What Reviewing Your Photography Business Really Gives You
A quick business review might not lead to huge lightbulb moments or dramatic realisation. But what it does offer is something far more useful - clarity (and maybe a reality check ot two).
It’s where you notice how much time actually went into things like chasing invoices, answering the same enquiry questions on repeat, or digging through emails to find information that really should’ve been easy to access. Not because you’re doing anything wrong, but because, when things get busy, systems slip and quick-fixes become the answer.
For a lot of freelance photographers, this is also when the forgotten admin jobs and half finished time-saving systems start to shout a little louder. None of it felt urgent at the time but, looking back, it's obvious how much brain space those manual tasks took up... And, more to the point, how much you could get back with the right processes in place.
Once yousee all of that written down, target-setting decisions stop feeling quite so heavy. You’re no longer stabbing in the dark with your business objectives and goals based on how things should work; you’re responding to what actually happened, which makes planning the year ahead feel a lot easier, clearer and more realistic.
5 Key Areas to Review in Your Photography Business Each Year
If you’re going to properly review your business before setting your 2026 objectives, it helps to know what you’re actually looking for. This isn't a full and detailed audit (though I’d recommend that too, when you have time!). An annual review is just taking note of a few key areas that tend to have the biggest impact.
You might want to take a closer look at things like:
Your time and workload
Have a think about where your time was spent over the past year. Not just shoots and editing, but the admin and marketing too. If you've fallen into the never-ending loop of late replies, weekend catch-ups and evenings lost to “just one more thing”, it’s worth noting.
Your enquiries and clients
Notice which enquiries were smooth experiences from start to finish, and which felt harder than they needed to be. This isn’t about judging, it’s about spotting patterns in your workflows so you can make better decisions this year - whether that’s putting those new processes into practice, or looking to outsource some of the more tedious tasks to someone else.
If you don’t know where to start with streamlining your enquiries and overall client experience, my ‘7 Ways to Perfect Your Process and Win More Clients’ is a pretty good place to start.
Your admin and systems
This is usually where the biggest opportunities hide. What’s still manual, what relies on memory, and what did you keep meaning to tidy up but didn’t? Invoices, follow-ups, workflows, templates, file organisation... If it lives in your head, or even still on paper, it’s probably doing too much work and taking too much time.
Want to know more about the systems that could really help your day-to-day? Check out CRM and Business Management Systems like Studio Ninja and Dubsado! Unsure which might be better for your business? Take a look at our explainer blog here!
Your marketing efforts
Take a deeper look into what actually brought people in. Were blog posts, social media, referrals or email enquiries your strongest source of enquiries? What did you enjoy working on the most, and what felt like a chore you avoided? Consistency is what matters in marketing, so if you’re posting sporadically or loathe writing blogs, maybe you could consider outsourcing or automating.
Unsure exactly what you can outsource to someone like a VA? Take a look at our top 5 here!
Your energy and boundaries
Finally, step back and look at how your business fits into your life. Do you have boundaries and do you actually stick to them? Are you stuck in a burnout loop, or have you nailed the elusive work/life balance? Even if your business is ‘successful’ on paper, it’s worth asking how it really plays into your life.
The biggest thing to remember? You don’t need to fix everything at once. The aim is simply to see what’s really going on, so your next decisions can be based on reality, not guesswork.
Our Simple 7-Step Business Review Plan (Without Overthinking It!)
First things first: this doesn’t need to be a big, formal exercise. I said earlier that this isn't an audit, it’s more of a check-in with yourself and your business.
- Set aside a realistic amount of time: This works best when it fits around real life. An hour or two, split across a couple of sessions, is usually more than enough. Putting it off for the “perfect” day tends to mean it becomes another task you never get around to.
- Look back before you plan ahead: Before you start thinking about new business objectives, goals or changes, take a proper look at what actually happened last year. It’s much easier to move forward when you’ve taken a moment to understand where you’ve been.
- Review how you spent your time, not just your income: Your finances certainly tell part of the story, but time usually tells the truth. Notice where your days went, what spilt into evenings or weekends, and which tasks took more energy than you expected.
- Pay attention to patterns, not one-off moments: A single stressful week doesn’t mean much on its own. Repeated frustrations, delays, or last-minute workarounds usually point to something worth addressing.
- Be honest about what felt heavy: If certain tasks were easy to put off, or systems never quite stuck, that’s definitely worth noting. Not as a criticism, just as useful information that you can actually use to grow and move forward.
- Write things down, even if it’s messy: This isn’t meant to be neat or shareable. Notes, half-sentences, or bullet points all count. Getting things out of your head is often where clarity starts.
- Decide what you want more (and less) of this year: Once you can see everything clearly, it becomes easier to decide what’s worth leaning into and what you’re ready to move away from. You don’t need all the answers yet – just a clearer sense of direction for what’s coming.
What Happens When You Don’t Review Your Business (or Set Business Objectives)
When a business review keeps getting pushed back, and business objectives never quite get set, nothing goes wrong… Immediately. In fact, for the most part, things will keep ticking along, clients will keep booking, and your stunning images will still get delivered, which makes it all too easy to assume everything’s running perfectly fine.
But underneath that seemingly steady rhythm, the same small frustrations tend to linger; the booking system that always feels a bit clunky, the inbox that never quite settles, the improvements you mean to implement “once things calm down” but never quite do. Without a proper review, those issues don’t get addressed – they just blend into the background.
Over time, that build-up can start to shape your decisions. Business objectives get set based on how things feel rather than what’s actually happening day-to-day, and goals sound good on paper but don’t necessarily match the reality of your workload, your energy, or the way you actually work.
And, before you know it, another season rolls around, bringing new enquiries, familiar pressure, and the same workarounds keeping everything afloat. Not because you’ve done anything wrong, but because without that pause to review and set clear business objectives, the business doesn’t really move forward. It simply repeats itself, waiting for the all-to-elusive “perfect” moment to stop, reflect and reset.
The good news? That moment doesn’t need to be a big one. Even a 20-minute ‘year-in-the-life’ of your business can spark the kind of small yet steady changes that make your next busy season feel smoother and more intentional.
How Ashwood VA Can Help
Reviewing your photography business each year isn’t about fixing everything or reinventing the wheel. It’s about taking a step back, noticing what’s really going on, and giving yourself a clearer starting point before another busy season takes over.
That kind of clarity is surprisingly revealing. It often shows just how much time and energy is tied up in the small, ongoing tasks sitting quietly in the background of your business (or, even better, that your energy isn’t being wasted and you’ve actually had an amazing year, which can be equally as important and even more of a confidence boost for your year ahead).
If your 2025 was the former, this is where having support behind the scenes can make a real difference. Ashwood VA works with photographers & small businesses to take care of the admin and operational tasks that keep everything running smoothly, from email and diary management to document production, research and file organisation.
And if the thought of those day-to-day business snags already has you feeling the time pressure, we can also help with things like managing CRMs, chasing invoices, handling customer service queries, blog uploads, onboarding clients, and tidying up the processes that stop the same questions landing in your inbox again and again.
It’s not about changing how you run your business; it’s about easing the load, smoothing out the snagging points, and giving you the space to focus on the work you actually enjoy. The result? A year that feels calmer and far less like you’re constantly catching up.
If you’d like an extra pair of hands to take some of this off your plate, you can learn more about how we support photographers behind the scenes below - helping you lighten the load and keep your business running smoothly.
FAQs
What is a business objective?
A business objective is a clear outcome you want your business to work towards over a set period of time. For photographers, that might be improving enquiry handling, reducing admin time, creating a better client experience, or building systems that support a healthier work-life balance.
Unlike vague goals, business objectives give direction to your decisions and help you focus your energy where it matters most.
How is a business objective different from a business goal?
Goals tend to be broad and aspirational, while business objectives are more specific and practical.
For example, “be more organised this year” is a goal. “Reduce time spent on admin by streamlining enquiries and follow-ups” is a business objective.
Objectives make it easier to take action, because they’re rooted in what’s actually happening day to day.
Should I review my business before setting objectives & goals?
Yes. Reviewing your business first gives you context. It helps you understand what worked, what didn’t, and where your time and energy really went over the last year.
Without that review, business objectives are often based on assumptions rather than insight, which makes them harder to stick to and less helpful in the long run.
How often should I review my photography business?
Once a year is a good starting point, but some freelance photographers and small business owners find 90-day check-ins helpful too – even if it’s just an hour to look at what’s working and what’s quietly draining your time.
What if my objectives change during the year?
That’s okay! It's completely normal to shift your focus throughout the year, depending on where you're feeling the strain or success the most.
The main thing to remember is that your business objectives are meant to guide you, not box you in. If your priorities shift, review them again and realign your focus. Flexibility is part of running a creative business – the aim is progress, not perfection.
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