Have you ever heard of the Great Lock-In Challenge? I’m joining in with Candice to do her Great Lock-In Challenge, but I thought I would set one on my own as we get ready to wind down 2026. It’s going fast isn’t it? I didn’t really have any goals to start the year off but somehow I feel ready to move and move in a big way in this last stretch of the year. So here is what the Great Lock In Challenge looks like for a small business owner.
So how did this great lock-in challenge start?
Hell if I know.
I saw this post that said is it for you and that is a great question.
It’s for me and I can only speak for me. For years I have been inconsistent an then when January comes I am trying to find my way. I believe if I can lock in from now until December…when Jan comes, I’m more in tune with what works and what doesn’t work and we can sail right through the new year without missing a beat in business and in life.
When it comes to photography, I want to lock in on two things…..get better with video because, let’s face it videos are what the people want. I also want to get better at marketing myself more.
Le’ts dive into marketing myself more because I think that’s the most important thing.
If I don’t market my business, how will people know about me? I have a hard time promoting myself. It’s not easy, and I have relied on word of mouth for many years. While word of mouth gets me paid, it doesn’t get me enough coins. I know AI is here and all that but people still want real photos and real moments something that AI can’t capture and I need to market that aspect of photography. I want to be known as a documentary-style photographer. Nothing posed, nothing perfect just you and I need to sell that more. Post my offerings daily on social media as much as I can. I’m not doing any videos on TikTok, but I have a few videos on YouTube and on my Instagram that capture my photoshoots. What can I do differently? Get out the house and take all the photos even the the ones where I’m just out and about. It’s the thing that got me to where I am and what better way to do that than to lock in and just take photos. Pull out my camera more (not my cell phone) and take photos at the store, at the restaurant, tell the story of myself that translates into me telling the stories of others. I also do this by doing the project 365, which this year is my last year doing it.
Next is video…..
I have done a few videos. You can see one below
I want to get better at them and offer a small video with each of my shoots. I’m not a videographer but I want to get consistent and giving my clients a small token of thanks when they book with me. I want to tell their story with a small clip of their day. Something under 10 min that I can put together without all the extra hoopla. I am currently practicing my skills on InShot (I hire someone else for CapCut because I think InShot is easier for me to understand) and doing small things with my own daily life that I can capture on video. The only thing is I forget to take the videos sometimes, which I have to do a better job of.
Overall I think in business you need to set some goals monthly that are attainable. If something doesn’t work, take it out and do something else. Always be open to change and always be willing to learn.
So back to the title of this post, what does the great lock-in challenge look like for small business owners? It looks like you locking in on one or two big goals that you know you can complete by December. Something you can chip away at daily until you reach your milestone…no excuses. Have a plan of action. Daily, I am going to promote my photography on a social media challenge. Daily, I am going to jump into photography challenges. Weekly, I will do a video and every two weeks put a video together of my life to practice. You can structure your business to kinda do the same things.
So let’s lock in!
