2015 Goals | Personal

I constantly have [what I feel like] is a never ending to-do list for my business, so when I sat down  to reflect on the past year of my business, and write out my goals for the coming year it was pretty easy. I know what I want to accomplish and need to do for myself and for my business’ growth, so I decided to take the “15 in 2015” approach! Here we go..

1. Shoot 10 birth sessions. This goes first because it is what I feel most passionate about! At the beginning of 2014 I had no idea that I would be shooting a birth at all, but God has a funny way of showing us exactly what we need to do. I shot 5 in 2014 and would love to double that number! 
2. Shoot 12 maternity sessions. This is another number I want to double from 2014. I think pregnant women are so beautiful, and I love being able to capture that fleeting time in their lives. 
3. Research and chose client gifts by June. This one is tough, because I have so many ideas of what I would LOVE to gift my clients! But Im excited to actually finalize this and put it into action, note the deadline! 
4. Add a la carte products to what I offer. Ive been weighing the pros and cons of this for a while, and after my wedding I realized how easy it is to scroll through the pretty gallery on my computer and not actually print an album, hang pictures or get a canvas. I want to make this option easier for my clients! 
5. Purchase a macro lens. This is pretty straightforward, I want to be able to capture those tiny baby details better.
6.  Blog twice a week. I am consistently inconsistent about my blogging. I love to share my clients images through my blog, but I also want to be able to consistently provide my audience with posts to check out-especially to help educate! 
7. Share at least two personal blog posts a month. This one is hard for me, because I am not a writer, and I always feel like “why would they want to know about my life”. Well, my blog stats quadruple when I share something personal [honeymoon, anyone?] and that really just tells me my audience cares about getting to know me, and I can appreciate that, I just need to work on slowly improving it! 
8. Reevaluate my workflow, and come up with a system. If I’m honest, my workflow is basically stored in my brain at this point. Ive printed charts, made checklists and then I forget to use them, I want something that I can use to help hold me accountable! 
9. Invest in a client management system. I can’t believe I made it through the business of fall without something like this. The system Ive been using has worked for me so far, but Im preparing for a lot of growth and I know having something like this is crucial to keeping myself organized. 
10. Attend a conference or a workshop. Education is so important-former teacher here, so I wholeheartedly believe this is critical for a successful business! Ive already attended one conference (C@H blog recap coming soon!) this year, just getting a head start for these goals! I have two more conference/workshops in the works before June! Woohoo! 
11. Attend a mentoring session. This is also in the works, I just won’t share with who yet! 🙂
12. Network with other birth professionals in my area. Doulas, midwives, OB practices, photographers etc. I am so excited to do this-if you know of any in the NOVA area, let me know, I would love to meet them! 
13. Have my work featured. Do you follow any awesome birth photography, baby or motherhood blogs? I would love to share my work with them and have it featured! 
14. Set my limits. I plan to have at least two weekends a month that I am off and unavailable to schedule sessions, now of course this doesn’t apply to births, but the unpredictability of birth is what is making me realize I need to have strict limits on my office hours and working weekends so that I can spend some QT with my family. 
15. Volunteer. When I left teaching I knew I wanted to make time for this. I really really want to volunteer at a hospital, either with children or babies. If you know of a hospital in need in NOVA definitely let me know! 

Phew! Thanks for hanging in there with me, so tell me, what are your goals for 2015? Do we have any that are similar? I am so excited about sharing all of these and hope you help hold me accountable-espeically on the blogging!