Hello 2017! I cannot believe it is time to start another year. This past year flew by and I must confess I’m not quite ready for this year to start. Could be because we had weddings well into December last year, or could be because I didn’t finish all the projects I had planned for our week off of work, could be because we watched Sherlock most of the weekend, or most likely because I just can’t believe it’s been 12 months since I set goals for 2016.

This past year was wonderful, busy, and exceeded our expectations! We shot more weddings than we planned for, met the most amazing couples and their families, and were so blessed in our business. Things changed behind the scenes and we grew like crazy. If I would have to pick a word to sum up the year though it would be education. In December of last year we were finishing up the Consistency Course by Kaitlyn James and it changed everything we did behind the scenes (and every photographer I know should take it!). Since then have taken 4 more courses by different photographers and learned so much! From lighting to posing and more, this past year was full of new technical skills. I feel like I’m constantly discovering something new! So this year, my main goal is to take everything we’ve learned and put it into practice. We have a few slower months to practice outside of a wedding and then be ready to rock our polished skill set once wedding season starts.

Other than learning a new skill I had several things I wanted to accomplish in the last 12 months. I did pretty well on some and not so great on others. I learned a lot of new recipes and even blogged about some of them – but it didn’t happen all 12 months. Once fall wedding season hit (you know, that time we shot 3 weddings and an event in a week?!) Scott took over all of the cooking instead of just most of it and without him I would have probably starved and had no clean clothes :) He’s definitely the better half of this dream team!

I did not do well at the no-snoozing thing…at all. It wasn’t until I started taking a spin class that I was able to wake up early and enjoy my workouts – so that will carry over into this year and hopefully stay a habit. And I failed miserably at reading business books. I read 1. One. That’s right. Instead of one a month, I just read one total. I bought quite a few and added them to the list but did not set aside the time to actually start them. So that will change this year as well.

The goal from last year I would say I was most successful at was blogging! I kept up with posting 2-3 times a week and only took two weeks off while we were on vacation so overall a definite success! It takes work and time to blog consistently – plus a lot of planning. I learned things that worked and things that didn’t (and our Blogging Tips series will pick back up this week!). I figured out times I blog best and times when I shouldn’t even try, and I’m excited to keep it up and improve it this year! Thank you to all of you who showed up to read it! Because without you all I’m just talking to myself – which I do plenty anyway so let’s not encourage it :)

So now that we’ve recapped 2016…here’s what we’d like to accomplish in 2017!

1. Start a monthly newsletter! For those of you that want to keep up with what we are doing more than just on the blog, we are going to start subscribers list and share lots of helpful information with those who need it! From wedding planning to marriage tips, we want to share what we’ve learned with those it’ll benefit: Our couples! So look for that in an inbox near you later this month :)
2. Read 12 business books. That’s right, we failed last year so let’s try again. Read a book a month that helps improve our business.
3. Plan our marketing calendar once or twice a month. This past year when I would schedule out posts, either for the blog or social media, it always went more smoothly and I knew what I was posting or writing about – so I want to continue and improve upon this! Instead of just planning out the week I want to have an idea of what the month will look like!
4. Finish and implement the two classes we are currently taking. New skills in action people.
5. This one is kind of a huge over-arching one, but I want this to be the year I stop changing or comparing how we run our business and become solidly, deep down, to our roots, us. I want to solidify who we are as photographers and shine in that. So instead of education, move to a place of growth. I think that should be our word for this year. I want to grow solid deep roots and high-reaching branches. Have a solid foundation and then reach new, unprecedented heights. It may take work, it may be scary, but I’m excited to see how doing this will change and shape our business and benefit our clients in new amazing ways!

We also each have some personal goals and things that we want to happen this year but as a business, these are the things we are aiming for in 2017! Thanks for coming along for the ride :)