Every year I make a set of business resolutions. If you’re interested, here are last year’s. How did I do on them? Let’s just see…
– Don’t be scared of change. There was quite a bit of change this year. You’re currently looking at a big change I made: my website! Another huge change happened when I moved out of my studio and started working and shooting from home and meeting clients in their homes and at some of my favorite restaurants and coffee shops around town. This resolution was definitely a success!
– Continue taking risks. Honestly, I don’t think I took many business risks this year. Well, there was one huge exception: moving out of my studio. I wasn’t sure how it would affect business, but I think the fact that I’m already scheduling well into 2014 is a sign that I can survive without a studio. One other risk that I took was to sign up for a conference in California on the spur of the moment. It turned out to be one of the more amazing experiences of my life. Success!
– Keep on networking! I feel like I slowed down on my networking a bit in 2013. In years past, I would go to every event that I heard about. Now, I’m being a bit more selective with how I spend my time. It’s more focused and honestly my connections have never been better. Success? Success!
What’s on my list of resolutions for 2014?
– Do more inspiring things to be more inspired. This was something I heard at the conference I attended in California that really resonated with me: in order to create inspiring work, you must first be inspired yourself! What am I going to do? Get out more during the golden hour. Take walks through new neighborhoods. Read more. Listen to new music. Watch a movie just for the cinematography. Cook new foods. The possibilities are endless!
– Shoot more in a way that excites me. Another thing that really stuck with me from the CA conference was that if you shoot in a way that interests and excites you, people will respond. I’ve already started making small changes, both in how I shoot and how I interact with the people in front of my camera and it feels great! It feels more authentic. I can’t wait for next year when I can really work on finding myself!
– Cultivate existing relationships. Networking is great and has done wonderful things for my business and professional development, but sometimes I feel like instead of going out looking for new people to meet, I need to spend more time with the people I know. Over the years I’ve met some amazing people. Why would’t I want to get in touch with them and hang out more often? There’s no reason not to.
– Print more personal work. I kind of miss the days of film. If you weren’t around then or don’t remember, you took a roll of film to get developed and got a stack of prints back, one for each photo on the roll. Sure, you didn’t end up doing anything with most of those prints, but at least you had them. I want to start placing an order of my favorite personal prints once per month. Even if I don’t have a use for them, at least I’ll have them.
Here’s to a successful 2014!