Confession: I totally wrote this post in January and then completely forgot about it! Whoops! But never late than never and it’s always good to put goals out there for the world (or 2 people) to see. But it’s still the beginning of the New Year and this is the time we make resolutions and goals, look back at what worked for us last year and what didn’t work and get excited for what’s to come. It can also be a little scary… you DON’T know what’s going to happen or what lies ahead. I feel like it’s even more scary for small business owners because your business is your everything so all you want is for things to go well for you. I hope this will be true but who knows! All I do know is I am going into 2016 (wow, so weird!!) with a positive mindset and I’m ready to kick it’s ass! 🙂

The best practice I have always found for everything is to WRITE THINGS DOWN. This can apply to anything. Your grocery list… write it down! Your to-do list for the day or week… write it down! I find you always accomplish more when you write things down. You always go back to it and it’s always a constant reminder of what you want or need to get done. As every year before, I am sharing my goals for 2016 today on the blog! This is a super scary thing to do, you guys. You have no idea. It’s SO scary to put your goals out there for everyone to see and read and judge you. C’mon, we all judge. So I know sharing it all will make me work harder to achieve my goals. For my business, I’m going to reach for bigger and more importantly, BETTER. I want everything in our business to simply be BETTER. Our client experience is good but it can be better. Our lighting in receptions is good but it can be better. My workflow is good but it can be better. I’m my worst critic so I always am striving for better and I really don’t think that’s a bad thing at all 🙂 There are always little areas to work on and strive for greater things and that’s my focus this year. And it’s never good to be comfortable. You should ALWAYS be pushing yourself to try new things and be fresh and always creative.  SO this is it! I’m sharing my goals for 2016! Breathe in… breathe out.. here we go…

Business Goals

• NEW head-shots! The head shots on my website, blog AND social media are great but they are also almost 2 years old and this is something that was on my to-do list from LAST year. I would love to always keep them fresh so this is high on my goals list! Oh and while we’re at it… head-shots of Jose! AND Jose and I together. Because we are a team, not just in life but in my business!
• Purchase two new lens! Jose, I need you to BREATHE. Jose always panics at the thought of spending any money lol but this is what needs to happen. Our lineup is great but I know we can really make our photos and our shots on wedding days better with TWO new lens’ I’ve got my eye on. If we want our shots to get better, our lens’ line up has to get better with it!
• Book 20 weddings for 2017! We’ve been so fortunate these past few years to be hitting our booking goals out of the park. For both 2015 and 2016, my goal was to shoot 15 weddings. Well, in 2015 we shot 16 and in 2016 we will be shooting 21! WOW! We already have 3 weddings booked for 2017 so let’s keep it going. Let’s get 20 for 2017! We also are so excited about all the NEW places we’ll be shooting at and some of our favorite locations again this year!
• Shoot a promo video for my website! A promo video is something I have always wanted for my site but honestly, the thought of seeing and HEARING myself every time I go to my website is a little unnerving. I don’t like to see or hear myself in videos lol but I know this is something that will elevate my brand and it’s time to get this going.
• Be on top of Submissions! Last year I was lucky enough to be featured on some wonderful wedding blogs like The well-groomed groom and Every Last Detail… but that’s IT! There have been so many wonderful weddings and engagement sessions that deserve to be featured so I am going to be more on top of this and hope to have a LOT more of my couples featured this year.
• Use Off-Camera-Flash at Receptions! Oh come on… this was on my goals list LAST year and we still haven’t done this?! That is NOT okay. This is something that will radically change our reception photos, I know it. And I know the reason we haven’t done this is because flash is confusing and frustrating and to try a NEW type of flash setup is SO intimidating but I know it will better us. So we are doing it!!

YAY! It’s out there in the void. SO scary! I’d love to know what your goals are for this year so be sure to leave a comment if you made it all the way to the end of this post 🙂 Also, if you have any tips or resources for any of MY goals please share! That’d be so kind and helpful 🙂

Also – aren’t all these pretty photos of cherry blossom trees making you ACHE for spring like I am?? My fingers are FROZEN as I type this!!