Can you believe it’s 2019 already?! I seriously can’t believe it, much less that it’s almost February!! For some of you reading this, 2019 may be the year that you finally get to make your best friend your spouse!! Some of you may welcome your first, second or third bundle of joy into this world! I am not sure what 2019 is going to have in store for me BUT I do know that I want to make it amazing!
Become Organized, Intentional, and Present
I’m grouping the three of these into one goal because they really are one giant goal. (Plus, it makes it look like less, it need to do ha!) This year is going to have a TON of focus on my business. I plan for it to grow exponentially but the whole reason behind my business is my family. Currently I feel like i’m not present when I am spending time with my kids. I’m reading posts on facebook about growing my business, editing pictures, watching educational videos, emailing clients, you name it!
My goal is to organize my life; business and personal. I need to intentionally plan my days. If there’s an educational video that I want to watch, GREAT! I will put it in my planner at 8:00 when my kids go to bed and watch it then. If there are emails that I need to follow up with, GREAT! I will put that on my calendar for 10:00. The kids can play with their paw patrol toys and I can get some work done.
If it’s 9:00 and theres nothing on my schedule to do, I’m not doing it! I am going to play with my kids, PUT MY PHONE UP, and intentionally be present when I am with them. Heres to holding myself accountable. Every night my goal is to plan out my next day, right down to meal times, laundry (ughh), and showers!
I also started using trello to organize my business and life. I’m still setting it up but my goal is to have myself, Cory, and possibly a JJP assistant have every task and to-do set up in there!
Outsourcing
I need to start outsourcing. It’s hard to justify the cost of these things while still charging an affordable rate for weddings but it’s something that needs to be done. I don’t have time to grow my business without having someone help me nurture my business!
Love on my couples
I love my couples. I truly and whole heartedly love my couples! I become friends with most of them. I’ve always been friendly with them and shared personal content with them but i’ve also felt like there was a line between being professional and being friends. NOT THIS YEAR! I plan to friend all of my couples on social media as soon as they book with me. Not only can I more easily allow them to see their sneak peeks but I love following their lives! I’m already friends with most of you but if not, look out for a friend request 😉
I want to host a cookout for all of the past and current JJP couples. I think it would be so much fun for everyone to get together with others that are in similar stages of life and I just love seeing you all that I need an excuse to do so again without a camera in front of my face!
Specialty Shots
I got the idea of these specialty shots from the amazing Katelyn James. I just started doing them a couple of months ago but the goal of these is to learn my flash system better AND to have a fun and unique shot for the night! I will always discuss with my couples before hand, but i’d love to take each couple outside for a couple of minutes during their reception (in the dark), bring my flash (probably 2, maybe even 3 flashes) and set up a really cool shot like the one below!
Organize finances/taxes
This is going to be my hardest goal. Cory and I are BOTH self employed, so we have two businesses to keep in order. Currently our system is a box of receipts (I say a box of recepts but 85% of cory’s work precepts are scattered around his work van), a ton of stress, and running around like crazy to get everything to our accountant by April. Cory recently became an LLC in his business (an LLC that files as an S Corp or something like that; it makes more sense come tax time) so throughout the year, he has to “pay” himself. We had a company running payroll but it was a complete mess so i’ve been doing it myself (like literally by myself, without quickbooks or any help) but I think this is one of those things that needs to be outsourced, at least outsourced to quickbooks as it would make my life A LOT easier!!!
That’s all for now guys! Thanks for letting me ramble on about my goals. I think this post was more to keep myself accountable 🙂
