2014 Goals and Ambitions

Business

January 21, 2014

I think I’m tired of the word dream. It’s kind of overused these days, and you know what? I’ve decided I want to be a doer, not a dreamer. Doers make things happen and get shit done. And dreamers, well, they’re asleep. 😉 Plus, I recently rewatched Inception and it kind of freaked me out…what if this is a dream right now????

Okay, in all seriousness, I feel like there are so many lofty goals thrown out there this time of year and that word “dream” gets some serious abuse. So this year, I want to make plans, and actually DO all the things on my list. There’s no time like the present, and there’s nothing like the clean slate the start of a new year offers to motivate me to get moving!

Business Plans:

  • Redo my packaging. This is already in the works! I’m so excited about this! It’s really more of a refresh than a complete redo, but it’s something I’ve been planning to do for a while and…well just never did.
  • New headshots. I haven’t had headshots done in a while, and I would love to update them in 2014! The tricky part is going to be deciding on locations and outfits!
  • Slowly begin to incorporate John into the brand more. John is such a huge asset to my business…he’s a great photographer, he’s fun to be around, and he really interacts well with my clients. I have LOVED having him as my second shooter, and we grow to be more and more of a team (work-wise) I would like to slowly incorporate that into my marketing/website/etc.
  • Book 10 weddings for 2015. I have found that 20ish weddings is my happy place, and I also feel good about my business when I close out the year at least halfway to my goal!
  • Buy a new computer. Do you guys want to know a secret? I’ve been running my business on a 15 inch HP laptop since the start! in 2013 I upgraded to also add an external monitor for editing, but I can tell that the computer isn’t going to last me another couple of years. I’m thinking about upgrading to a Mac Mini to use with the monitor I bought last year! Does anyone use one and love it?? I would love a Macbook Pro but I’m not sure it’s in the budget this year.
  • Learn stuff. One of my goals for the first quarter of the year is to get some education. I feel like there’s never enough time during wedding season, so I want to make learning a bigger priority for the rest of the off season!
  • Find solutions for bottlenecks in my business. One major stumbling block I had last fall was: sharing images from every wedding with all vendors in a timely manner and submitting each wedding. I work really hard to turn my images around quickly to clients, but sometimes that means other things are not quite as big of a priority. I realize that BOTH of those are things that I need to stay on top of to continue to grow my business and not become stagnant, so I want to come up with a way to make it easier for me to do them both. Basically I call this my “step up my game” plan. Haha.
  • Try out different methods of marketing. For a while, I was adamant I would never spend a dime on marketing besides my client experience. But then I started to wonder why do I feel that way? It had a lot to do with the fact that several of the photographers I really admire built their businesses solely on word of mouth referrals. I consider myself lucky to have been able to do the same…especially since the pool of people I actually know in real life is so small! I didn’t go to college and was homeschooled in high school so I don’t have a huge sorority or groups of college/high school friends to book from. I also believe my business should be first and foremost run on what makes me feel good, and what my gut tells me…my gut tells me I won’t know how effective other forms of marketing are until I try some out! So, I’m actually going to be a part of a well known wedding blog’s vendor guide this year…we’ll see how it turns out, and I will definitely keep you guys updated if you’re interested!
  • Shoot a few more lifestyle/portrait sessions. Last year I discovered that I really loved shooting lifestyle-esque sessions like the ones I did for my friends Jerri and Mark as they prepared for and welcomed their baby, Vance home. I would love to take on a few more of these types of sessions in between my wedding schedule. I’m also interested in getting shooting more boudoir!
  • Meet my 2014 booking goal. Duh.
  • Figure out why bulleting these lists makes the text so small. Help?

Personal

  • Have fun. Also: see more live bands, eat more, drink beer, dance more, and laugh-til-I-pee-or-cry more.
  • Run a marathon. I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but I have been training for weeks now!
  • Swim lessons. Last summer, Lauren taught me how to swim in a 30 ft lake. I wish she lived closer because I really want to learn actual strokes and how to be a confident real swimmer. I’m in the process of looking for a place to take swim lessons, and don’t tell anyone, but my eventual goal is to do a triathlon. Haha…it seems to be go big or go home with my fitness goals lately…I did say EVENTUAL though, and triathalon is NOT actually on this year’s list…so.
  • Save money. A cliche goal, but one that I’m committed to. I’m also interested in looking into investing in the stock market…should be an adventure, albeit not a super exciting one 😉
  • Finally upgrade our mattress (haha). We sleep on a full sized bed like we’re one teenager, except we’re two grown adults. It’s…cozy. I’m ready to make this happen this year!
  • Drink more tea and water. Another cliche but very necessary goal. So obsessed with this almond caramel amaretti tea from Teavana. OMG. It’s delicious.
  • Take a mini vacation. John and I have been putting off our honeymoon for two and a half years. I’d love for us to travel some this year…together. Just for fun, not for work. I sometimes feel conflicted about planning vacations for us when we need to save and pay down on our bills, but we’re only going to be young once, right? We also may have a family one day and it will be a lot harder to do our honeymoon when we’re leaving behind kids. Come on guys, I know you can help me rationalize a trip:)

Virginia Wedding Photographer_0437

Well that’s about it for my 2014 goals! It’s taken me a little longer to get them together, but I feel like it’s because I’m at this awkward place in my business. I feel so thrilled and lucky to be embarking on my third full season as a wedding photographer (second as a full time photog) and I honestly have everything I ever wanted…or hoped for. The daydreams I had a few years ago were pretty much of the life I lead now!!

Back when I was looking forward and thinking about what I wanted for the business, I wanted: to be able to support our family, to be able to wake up every day feeling excited and passionate about my work, and to actually look at my work and be proud of it. I can honestly say I’ve been so lucky to have all three of those (and more) happen, and since I feel like I got everything I wanted, it’s a little tricky for me to sit down and think about “What’s next” because I’m not 100 percent sure what I want that to look like.

And let me be perfectly honest with you guys…I’m not sure “What’s next” has to look any different from today. I know I’m not in this to become a “rockstar” or celebrity photog who has lots of products and makes money off of speaking (if you’ve heard me talk, you probably know why HAHA). I’m in this first and foremost to build a happy life for myself, my husband, and our one day kids. That might be a little unconventional for an industry that I think is always “More, more, more” and is full of people striving for things other people are doing (destination weddings, print publication, speaking at conferences, hosting workshops, big features on blogs, styled shoots all day erryday etc…) but none of those things really have anything to do with my happiness or why I wanted to be a photographer. All of those things, I’ve been lucky enough to earn already. Somebody pinch me!!! As for future KNP goals? I guess I’ll go wherever my gut leads me! Can’t wait to see where that is:)

Leave a Comment

  1. Kim says:

    Get shit done! I have some solutions for a few of these goals of yours:

    1. Buy a desktop Mac and trade me and you can have my (gently used, but whatever) Macbook Pro! This is an offer you really can’t refuse.
    2. For marketing, boost the use of the Jneezysays twitter and that could help market your business.
    3. You guys can come to Iceland with me.

    That’s all I’ve got at the moment, but I can always do some new headshots for you if you want.

  2. Katie says:

    love this Katie!! If I were closer I’d definitely help you on the swimming thing- I swam competitively from age 6-17 and I was a certified lifeguard & swim instructor all throughout high school! It’s a lot of fun seeing people finally *get* the strokes! 🙂 good luck on all of your goals!

  3. Sarah says:

    We’ve put off our honeymoon too, we bought a mattress, haha! At least two personal things on your list were two on mine! I had tea and a scone yesterday around 3:30 and I thought to myself; I should have tea time every day! I pretty much do anyway but label it and take some time to sip, enjoy and have a little break. Drink some tea, relax for a few, regroup then go back into what I was doing fresh!

    So glad everything you’ve wanted and wished/dreamed for is real life for you now! I think you deserve a trip to celebrate! 🙂

  4. Patricia says:

    Doing things in stead of dreaming things is a great attitude! Here’s to 2014 being awesome!

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