Oh man. I feel so unprepared this year! At the beginning of the year last year, I was implementing some new systems in my business. I decided to really get serious about things and started a business plan and made financial, educational and technical goals for the year. While I reached some of my goals, others took a back burner and were never completed. But the good thing is that you can always improve and start over! So, this year I am back to setting measurable goals to help me in my business and my personal life. I had my second baby girl on November 19th 2018. Getting used to life with 2 kids is crazy and I don’t feel like I’ve had any time to think about/work on my business. BUT! That’s going to change. I’d like to improve my skills and knowledge and I want my business to grow. I love what I do and I want to be able to serve as many couples as I can in 2019! So, I’m sharing a couple of my business and personal goals to keep myself accountable!
Business Goals
1 ~ Read 5 business books ~ Ugh. If you know me, you know that reading is not my favorite. I don’t even read for fun so picking up a business book and reading it is not high on my priority list. HOWEVER, I know that if I really commit to reading 5 business books this year, my knowledge and skills will improve! So, I made a list of a bunch of books I thought would help my business and I chose 5 to focus on this year! I’m going to make a weekly reading goal to help me get through all 5 books! Wish me luck because this goal is definitely not in my comfort zone!
2 ~ Finish academy classes ~ At the end of 2017 I signed up for the International Academy of Wedding Photographers online certificate program. I started working on courses and completed 3 out of 8 and started on another 2. Around March of 2018 my courses took a backseat because I got too busy with weddings! Which was a HUGE blessing and I am SO grateful to all of my couples for trusting me to capture the most important day of their lives! So now that I have some extra time during slow season I am making a goal to complete these courses! Ideally, I’d like to be done with the 3 courses I haven’t started on yet by May of this year and the 2 I’m currently working on done by March of this year!
Personal Goals
1 ~ LIFT ~ This is my word for 2019! Each year I pick a word to focus on. Last year was simplify and the year before that was grow. This year it’s LIFT! I choose this word based on what I think I need to work on in my personal life and in my business and what my Savior confirms to me is important for me to focus on that year. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they have made a change from visiting teaching to ministering. And I have struggled with it hardcore! But the more I think about it, the more I realize that ministering is not just a monthly checklist item and it doesn’t just apply to the sisters I am assigned to minister to (though I need to be WAY better at ministering specifically to them). It applies to every person I come in contact with throughout my day. It applies to my clients, to vendors I work with, to my family and friends and even to complete strangers. So this year I am going to do my best to lift instead of judge, to inspire instead of question, to see the good in others and give them the benefit of the doubt instead of complaining and getting frustrated.
2 ~ Focus on the positives ~ I like to think that I am a fairly positive person, but the truth is that I’m way more of a realist. I don’t count on things going right all the time and I prepare for the worst to happen in a lot of cases. So this year I am going to focus on the positives instead! Specifically in myself and in my husband and 2 girls. Like I mentioned above, I just had my second baby girl and she is 8 weeks old today! And it’s been rough. I don’t love taking care of a newborn (more about that here) and figuring out how to get my other 2 year old daughter to behave is challenging. Sometimes I feel like the struggles will never end. But I know that if I focus on simple positives in each of my girls, my husband and in myself each day I will be more thankful and more happy! So, I’m going to write down one positive thing about my husband on a board in our room everyday. I’m going to write down one positive thing about myself on the bathroom mirror each day and I’m going to write down one positive thing about my girls on the whiteboard in the kitchen each day! I know this is a big goal, but I want to become a more positive person and writing things down always helps! And hopefully it will lift all of us and encourage us to continue being the best we can be!
