I can’t put into words how amazing of a year 2012 has been. I’ve seen my business grow more ways than I ever thought was possible in such a short amount of time, and it only makes me incredibly excited to see what 2013 brings. What started out as a hobby two years ago, has now turned into my passion, my life, and hopefully sooner than later – my career. If you want to read about some of my most unforgettable moments of 2012, check out my 12 Moments List.

As I did every month in 2012, I set a few goals for December. Let’s do a recap of how I did.

1.) By request of Danny, take one weekend completely off from photography… meaning no editing, emailing, marketing, or anything related to business. Probably going to be the toughest goal of the month for me.

– SUCCESS! This actually wasn’t too hard since wedding season ended and I tied up most of my loose ends in late November/early December. For those of you that know me, you know how difficult it is for me to COMPLETELY relax, but there was definitely a few weekends where I barely did anything related to photography (okay okay – I may have answered a few emails and updated by blog, but it was only done to kill time so I could let Danny sleep in) 🙂 And actually I took this past weekend off and went up to Lake Geneva for some Dexter marathons, R&R, and snowboarding 🙂

2.) Add all the new album and a la carte options to my 2013 pricing sheet.

– SUCCESS!

3.) Start working out. Seriously this time. This has been in my monthly goals twice and I’ve failed both times. Now that my schedule is opening up a little bit, I’ve got no more excuses.

– semi-SUCCESS. I definitely did a lot better this month. I went on a few runs and went to a few classes. There’s always more I can do, but it was definitely a great start to the ever popular New Year’s resolution of working out.

4.) Finalize all booked wedding contracts for 2013. Right now I have deposits but am missing signed contracts for 3 weddings.

– I have all except 1 in hand but it is going in the mail today so I’m gonna say… SUCCESS!

5.) Print a sample album to bring to wedding consults.

– I started working on one yesterday. But I’m pretty happy with this goal since I finally chose what company I’m going to be printing through and I played around with designing the albums. I’ve even set aside some time after the new year to work on it… so this will be coming soon!

Goals for January

1. Finish assembling sample album/print it.

2. Create an itemized list of all expenses from 2012 for each event.

3. Set up an appointment with an accountant to go over all financials.

4. Order new personalized flash drives and packaging.

5. Snowboard at least twice.

BIG Goals for 2013.

1. Book 10 weddings (only a few more to go!)

2. Sell at least 2 Wedding Albums.

3. Finalize my business plan and keep track of all financials more efficiently.

4. Have one wedding published by a wedding blog (theKnot, Style Me Pretty, Green Wedding Shoes, etc.) by the end of the year.

5. Purchase the following equipment by the end of the year: Canon 5D Mark iii, 85mm 1.2L, 135mm f/2, Think Tank Rolling Travelling Bag, and mayyyyyybe a 70-200 f/2.8L

Have a safe and happy new year everyone!