Looking back on the goals I laid out for 2015, I suck. I hardly met any of the goals I set out, and I think the ones I did reach, were on accident. I don’t remember revisiting them once I wrote them. I didn’t meet many of the goals deliberately. I suck.
- Increase advertising budget. Met. I doubled this.
- Complete the in-house studio. Met. It’s beautiful and I love showing this to my clients.
- Revamp my business model. Met. I did do this to include more printed products in my senior and wedding collections.
- 10 weddings and double my senior clients. Partially met. I only shot four weddings; however, my senior clients did almost in fact double.
- Prepare for a bridal show in 2016. FAIL. I’m not really sure I want to do this. Ever.
- Triple 2014’s gross income. Partially met. I didn’t come anywhere near growing by 300%, but I did grow by 27%.
- Network with more vendors. FAIL. I reached out to a few, but wasn’t very diligent about following up with them.
- Mentor beginners. FAIL. No one asked for help, and I didn’t seek anyone out.
- Score an 80 on a WPPI entry. FAIL. MAJOR FAIL. I didn’t even submit an image.
- Post more than 120 blogs. FAIL. I posted 57 blogs articles in 2015; 79 in 2014. I am no where near my goal of 120.
- Finish reading Picture Perfect Posing. FAIL. I don’t think I ever picked up the book again.
- Finish all my Creative Live courses. FAIL. I tend to only watch certain parts of the classes and then I went and bought more.
- Shoot more personal projects. Partially met. I did start the Day in the Life project with my dad and his brothers and sisters. I didn’t finish it.
- Cover more of my personal life with photos. Fail. I did not take my camera to more personal endeavors. My personal images in 2015 were half of what I captured in 2014.
- Continue to develop professional relationships. Met. I continued to attend meetups when I could and I continued to network more closely with a few photographers who have also become friends.
So, I’m capitalizing on the positives here. I made more money. I completed a designated work space to meet with my clients and filled it with beautiful samples. I had a lot of fun and my work environment is the best I’ve ever experienced. I finished my second year of being a full-time photographer without having to go back to a traditional job. This past year was the first year I traveled for two different workshops/seminars. I met new photographers who I now consider friends and have kept in contact with. I tackled off-camera lighting and used it in every single one of my portrait sessions. Maybe I don’t suck.
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