I am a huge fan of New Years. It is a time to reflect on the good and bad of the year, what you accomplished and events that have happened, it is also the time of year where everyone is so excited to grow, to achieve goals and to be better. This can be over whelming and Ill let you know on some ways to help create realistic goals in a bit. So last year after Christmas I had just really started taking photography serious. I had done Christmas minis with a huge turn out and had many eager clients who were ready to re book me! So I set out to make some goals for the year 2018 to help me grow my business and improve my skills. One of the resolutions was to take several new workshops or courses. I wanted to continue to push myself to grow and learn through out the year. The second and main goal was to take self portraits. Now this one may seem odd, but I felt strongly that I needed to do this. Put myself in my clients shoes, learn the feelings of being in front of the camera, learn how to deal with the emotions when you see faltering or unflattering photos. Learn how to work with difficult environments and out of the box ideas to push my creativity. I make a goal of taking at least one self portrait a month. Wow am I glad I did! I have learnt so much about self hatred and about confidence, about the emotions involved when seeing images and how to best solve any issues. I learnt how I needed to look at myself, how to see myself with love and thankfulness for what God gave me. Doing these self portraits also made me realize the importance on capturing people in flattering light, enhancing their beauty and helping them also see themselves with love. This then began my journey of many posing courses and eventually boudoir photography.

Check out my next Blog Post to see more details of my Year in Review.

Now I didn’t forget, the following is my New Years Resolutions. I choose these Goals over a period of time, finally sitting down and writing each on a paper. I wanted to make my wishes into goals, and that doesn’t happen without a plan. So I wrote my wishes down on a paper, and then wrote how I planned to accomplish them.

1. My first Goal was to travel to one or two destination weddings.

   I wrote this down and contacted a SEO specialist to help me design my website to reach other cities and countries. I then will start tagging my photos on instagram with tags such as #destinationphotographer and #travelingphotographer and #weddingphotographer so that people anywhere can see my work. I will also be offering discounts on my travel fees for this year.

2. My second goal is Videography.

I want to learn, master and capture Wedding Films. I am so excited to say that this has been a wish for about 3 months, and after writing down a plan, my husband and I have started taking Videographer courses and watching tutorials and films to learn how to start. It helps that I have a strong background in weddings and Cameras so we have done our research and will start the large investment into purchasing all the equipment we need to start Videography! Because this Goal is already coming true, I decided to add to it. It is important to set realistic goals, but also reach outside your comfort zone, and also so important to check back in on them and see if you can reach farther. I am reaching farther to put the Goal I hope we can book at least 3 Videography Weddings in 2019 in a town where it is un heard of.

3. My third goal is to grow my instagram account.

Now this isn’t like majority of people who are looking for the most followers, I am hoping to grow more engagement from my current followers by really giving useful tips for their wedding day or even showing DIY projects I finish and how I accomplished them. I want my account to be relevant and helpful and also, and primarily, uplifting and encouraging.

4. My forth goal is to grow spiritually.

It has been an incredible journey with God and in the last few years I have seen so many miracles and learnt so much about him, but I want to continue to push to have an underlying foundation of faith and joy in God, helping me to stay grounded and healthy as well as having God beside me to push me past my comfort zone and into what ever plan he has for me!

5. My last goal is to be at peace, this one means a lot of things.

The way I plan to accomplish this is by not comparing my work and success to anyone else but my own. Constantly working to grow in all I do, but never being discouraged if others are growing faster. I want to be able to wake up each day, regardless of situations around me and have peace and joy in my heart. I am known for being high stressed. I am a planner down to the minute and when my life gets thrown off track I stress about every possible outcome, even if it will do nothing for me. I want this year to be a year where I give it to God, and not cause issues I can’t fix or change, be the undoing of me. This goal is one I am nervous for (see I am already stressing haha) because I know if I stop holding onto everything so tight things may change, maybe sometimes it wont go my way and I will need to learn how to push through it.

Here are a few of my other goals, though not in priority, or written down to have a certain point of success, but goals I choose to continuously work on just to be a good photographer. My goals include, being consistent and engaging on Social Media. Taking photos or videos at least every other day to constantly be learning. To youtube new skills when I have a second so that I can learn new perspectives and skills for photography. To blog at least once a month so that my SEO is decent and the few people interested in my journey can see what I have been up to. To continue to create the Warrior Project, and even possibly find ways to grow it and help more women. To be a loving wife who knows when to power off from work and not burn out. To make back ups of my back ups. To invest wisely and charge kindly. To continue to reach new clients and add more shoots a year, each year.

Now I will try to check back on my year of goals regularly to see where I need to change and what I am accomplishing.

If you are wanting to create goals for 2019 I encourage you to do the following.

Write down all your wishes, even if they seem imposable.

Then write beside them ways you could accomplish those wishes and turn them into goals.

Priorities 2-4 Goals that you will focus on for the year.

Make a game plan, monthly check ins where you have set a small goal that will build towards the end goal, are they working, do you need to revamp some steps to make your goal happen?

Work hard but don’t let it consume you, goals don’t have to be accomplished and will often change, make sure to find time to disconnect and relax.